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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/iCIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microraproductiont  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  hiatoriquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notaa  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□   Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


|~n   Covers  damaged/ 


D 


D 


0 

n 


D 


D 


Couverture  endommagAe 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurAe  et/ou  pellicul4e 


I — I   Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


r~n   Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  inic  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I     I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli*  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouttes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais.  lorsquo  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  *ti  filmies. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  Ati  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthode  normale  de  f ilmaga 
sont  indiqute  ci-dessous. 


I — I   Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagAes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaurtes  et/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe« 
Pages  dAcolortes,  tacheties  ou  piquAes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

QualitA  inigale  de  ('impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppMmentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


I — I  Pages  damaged/ 

I — I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~~\  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I     I  Pages  detached/ 

r~T|  Showthrough/ 

r^  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

|~~|  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I — I  Only  edition  available/ 


Th 
to 


Th 
po 
of 
fill 


Or 
be 
thi 
sic 
oti 
fin 
sic 
or 


D 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partieliement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuiliet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc..  ont  MA  filmtes  A  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  meiileure  image  possible. 


Th 
sh 
Til 
wl 

Ml 
dil 

enl 
be 
rig 
re< 
m( 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

• 

y 

12X 

16X 

aox 

24X 

28X 

32X 

^^«w^»ar,s{ 


The  copy  filmed  here  hee  been  reproduced  thenke 
to  the  generoelty  of: 

Netionei  Library  of  Canada 


The  Image*  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  In  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  In  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  Impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  Impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  ^»>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

IVIaps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  In  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  Illustrate  the 
method: 


1 

2 

3 

L'exemplaire  filmA  fut  reprodult  grice  ii  la 
g^ndrosit*  de: 

BIbllothAque  natlonale  du  Canada 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  4tA  reprodultes  avec  ie 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  I'exempialre  f llmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fiimage. 

Les  exemplaires  origlnaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAe  sont  fllmte  en  commenpant 
par  Ie  premier  plat  et  en  terminent  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  emprelnte 
d'Impresslon  ou  d'lllustratlon,  soit  par  Ie  second 
plat,  salon  Ie  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
origlnaux  sont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  emprelnte 
d'Impresslon  ou  d'lllustratlon  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
emprelnte. 

Un  des  symboies  sulvants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  Ie 
cas:  Ie  symbole  — ►  signlfie  "A  SUIVRE",  Ie 
symbols  ▼  signlfie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmte  A  des  taux  de  rMuctlon  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  Ie  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reprodult  en  un  seul  clichA,  II  est  film6  A  partir 
de  i'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  drolte, 
et  de  haut  en  has,  en  prenant  Ie  nombre 
d'images  nAcessalre.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

!    \ 


\^ 


f  V 


3rt)e  {Dtttcl)  at  the  Ilortl)  Pole 


AKD 


€\}t  |ut4  ill  Bainc. 


PAPER 


READ   BEFORE   THE 


^eto  f  0rk  Iii5t0rital  ^0ddg, 


ar  MARCH,  1857. 


BY 

3.  tDatts  }tt  )Peg0ter, 

A  MEMBER  OF  THE  SOOIETY. 


St. 


NEW  YORK: 
PRINTED    FOR    THE    SOCIETY 

M  DOOC  LVII. 


Entered  aecordinc  to  Act  of  Uongren,  Id  the  yetr  1857,  by  J.  Watts  nc  Pbtbtir,  In  tha 
Clerk't  Otteti  of  the  District  Court  of  tbe  United  SUlas  for  the  Booibern  Dlrtrict  of  New  York 


n-A-TT  &  SCHRAM,  PRINTKRa, 
POUOHKEKPSIX. 


v\ 


/■ 


Itfto  |orli  iistorital  %m^% 


FOUNBKI)  1804. 


New  Yoe«,  Febrdart  4, 1857. 

Frbdbkiok  ni  Pryhtrr,  Esq. 
MyDearHir: 

Iq  behalf  of  the  Bpeoial  Oominittee  on  papei^  to  be  read,  I  am 
instructed  to  express  to  your  their  desire  that  you  will  read  the  paper  on 
the  «9utcli  In  ^«(ne,'*  prepared  by  Gen.  xa.  Petbter,  which  was  an- 
nounced for,  but  not  read,  last  evening— at  the  next  regular  meeting  of 
the  Society,  on  Tuesday  evening,  March  8d.  Will  you  allow  me  to  add, 
my  own  hope  that  you  will  be  able  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the 
Committee,  as  I  regard  the  subject  as  one  of  unusual  novelty  and  interest 
to  tlie  Society.  I  remain,  my  dear  Sir, 

With  great  respect, 

Yours  very  truly, 

GEO.  H.  MOOKE. 


TS^m  Dork  Qtstoncal  docteti), 

Founded  1804. 


At  a  stated  meeting  of  the  Society,  held  in  the  Oliapel  of  the  University 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  on  Tuesday  evening,  March  8d,  1867, 

The  paper  of  the  evening,  entitled  "tj^e  Sntcjft  at  t|e  Nort$  Dole,"  and 
"tjbt  Sntcji  fit  iKafne,**  prepared  by  General  J.  Watts  de  Pbtstek,  was 
read  by  Frederick  de  Peystek,  Esq. 

On  its  conclusion,  Mr.  James  W.  Beekman,-  after  some  remarks,  submit- 
ted the  following  resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  sincere  thanks  of  this  Society  be  presented  to  Gen- 
eral DE  Peybter  for  his  able  and  interesting  paper  read  this  evening,  and 
that  a  copy  be  requested  for  the  Archives  of  the  Society,  and  for  such 
further  disposition  as  may  be  advised  by  the  Executive  Committee. 

Extract  from  the  tninutea. 

ANDREW  WARNER, 
.  Recording  Secretary. 


*< 


^t  intcl  at  %  fortt  |ole, 


AND 


®|t  itttf|  ill  Itaiiit. 


It  is  only  recently  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  been  awakened  to  a  just  appreciation  of  the 
marvelous  deeds,  stirring  enterprize,  and  indomitable 
spirit,  which  actuated  that  glorious  little  nation,  the 
Netherlanders  or  Hollanders — generally,  but  inappropri- 
ately, styled  Dutchmen — in  establishing  their  inde^  ;> 
dence.  We  have  yet  to  learn  how  much  of  the  worlds 
progress  is  due  to  their  example ;  and  the  practice  of 
every  manly  virtue,  T(j  courage,  fortitude  and  patri- 
otism, they  added  economy,  industry,  integrity  and 
intelligence;  and  had  their  territorial  position  and  phys- 
ical power  corresponded  with  the  union  of  such  mre 
qualities,  this  combined  influence  would  have  raised 
them,  as  a  people,  to  a  height  of  glory  hitherto  ap- 
proached by  no  other  nation  in  the  old  world. 


6 

As  merchants,  ploughers  of  the  sea,  they  rarely  erred 
in  the  location  of  their  maritime  settlements ;  and,  a8 
colonists, — ploughers  of  the  soil, — they  never  made  a 
mistake  in  the  selection  of  the  lands  they  wer^  to  culti- 
vate ;  so  much  so  that  it  has  passed  into  a  proverb  in 
some  parts  of  this  very  State — where  the  Germans,  and 
families  from  the  Easteni  States,  came  afi^r  the  Dutch — 
"that  there  never  was  a  good  piece  of  land  that  the 
Devil  did  not  open  his  bag  and  shake  out  some  Dutch- 
man upon  it." 

Thus,  early  as  1575  they  learned  the  value  of  the 
spice-bearing  groves  and  fruitful  valleys  of  the  richest 
island  of  the  globe — Java ;  and  established  their  facto- 
ries and  trading  houses  wherever  bounteous  Nature  in- 
vited Commerce  with  her  richest  stores.  When  Colum- 
bus made  his  great  discovery,  it  is  well  known  that  he 
supposed  it  was  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  of  which  he 
was  in  search.  The  term  India  was  adopted  by  the 
Greeks,  who,  it  is  said,  derived  it  from  the  Persians, — 
for  it  was  unknown  to  the  natives, — and  was  used  to 
signify  the  indefinite  regions  beyond  the  Indus,  which 
were  but  partially  known  to  them,  from  the  vague  de- 
scriptions of  the  Persians.  Successive  expeditions,  in 
ancient  times,  revealed  the  boundaries  of  the  countries 
watered  by  the  Indus  and  the  Ganges,  and  their  great 
tributaries,  and  gradually  developed  their  valuable  and 
inexhaustible  productions. 

Until  the  close  of  the  15th  century,  Europeans  ob- 
tained the  precious  merchandise  of  India,  partly  through 
Egypt,  whither  it  came  by  the  way  of  the  Arabian  Sea, 
and  partly  from  the  long  journeys  of  the  Caravans, 
through  the  interior  of  Asia.  The  doubling  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  1497,  opened  to  the  Portuguese 


great 


the  teeming  riches  of  that  vnst  mine  of  wealth  which 
has  enriched  the  various  nations  who  successively  have 
obtained  access  to  it. 

The  Portuguese  dominion  in  Asia  was  fast  crumbling 
into  ruin,  when  the  union  of  Portugal  with  Spain,  in 
1580,  gave  the  finishing  blow  to  their  commercial  pow- 
er in  India.  The  Dutch  had  sought  in  the  mart  of  I4S- 
l)on  for  Indian  merchandize,  when  Philip  the  Second 
closed  its  harbor  to  this  adventurous  and  industrious 
people.  Thus,  it  became  an  object  of  paramount  im- 
portance to  find  a  passage,  if  practicable,  to  India  by 
the  Northern  seas;  and  many  fruitless  attempts  were 
made  to  accomplish  this  great  object.  Nevertheless, 
they  availed  themselves  of  favorable  opportunities  to 
enter  the  lists  with  the  Portuguese ;  gradually  succeeded 
in  stripping  them  of  their  possessions  by  their  stronger 
and  better  manned  Navy,  which  pursued  the  latter 
on  their  own  beaten  track;  and  finally  wrested  from 
them  their  most  important  acquisitions  in  the  famed  In- 
dies. It  was  in  the  course  of  the  former  unsuccessful 
attempts  in  the  Polar  seas  that  the  Dutch,  as  we  shall 
hereafter  see,  found  their  way  to  our  Atlantic  border, 
and  thereby  became  aware  of  the  advantages  presented 
by  the  rich  lumber  districts  of  Maine ;  and  although 
few  are  apprised  of  it,  made  several  attempts  by  peace- 
ful colonization  and  by  force  of  arms,  to  place  them- 
selves in  a  position  to  share  the  prolific  fisheries ;  the 
unsurpassed  masting  and  lumbering  facilities;  and,  at 
that  time,  the  rich  fur  trade  afforded  along  the  coasts 
and  upon  the  shores  of  the  rivers  and  estuaries  of  Maine, 
then  the  Province  of  Acadie. 

There,  at  the  periods  referred  to,  the  bounties  of 
the  land  actually  clasped  hands  with  the  favors  of  the 


• 


8 


sea ;  although  at  the  present  date,  in  many  instances, 
the  bare  rocks,  denuded  of  their  stately  evergreen  for- 
ests, and  oftentimes  of  the  very  soil  itself,  by  the  intense 
action  of  rapidly  succeeding  conflagrations,  present,  in 
lamentable  contrast,  the  very  image  of  desolation ! 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Hollanders  first  settled  the 
three  states  of  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Connecti- 
cut ;  planting  their  colonies  on  the  shores  of  two  of  our 
noblest  northern  rivers ;  and  that  a  few  years  subse- 
quently they  conquered  a  territory  now  constituting  n 
fourth  state — Delaware ;  when  their  sway  extended  over 
the  districts  bordering  on  either  side  of  the  third  great 
stream  of  that  name. 

Pew,  however,  comparatively,  of  those  best  acquaint- 
ed with  our  History,  have  heard  that  the  Hollanders 
were  likewise  amongst  the  earliest  Colonists  of  Maine, 
and  at  one  time  displayed  their  ensigns,  victorious  in 
all  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  at  more  than  one  point 
of  that  then  remote  province. 

The  first  Dutch  commander,  on  record,  who  made  a 
landing  on  the  shores  of  Maine,  was  fienbruk  (Jtibson ; 
he  who  discovered  the  noble  estuary  or  river,  which 
now  bears  his  name.  On  the  17th — (18th) — of  July, 
1609,  (on  the  third  of  September,  in  which  year  he 
Michored  inside  the  bay  formed  by  Sandy  Hook,)  that 
distinguished  Navigator  landed  on  the  shores  of  the 
Penobscot,  and  remained  in  that  bay  for  the  space  of  a 
week,  cutting  and  stepping  a  new  foremast,  and  repair- 
ing his  rigging,  damaged  by  his  previous  tempestuous 
passage.  He  likewise  had  frequent  and  friendly  inter- 
course with  the  natives ;  some  of  whom  it  was  even  re- 
ported could  speak  a  few  words  of  French  ;  from  whom 
he  understood  that  traders  of  that  nation  came  thither 


iPU 


every  year  to  barter  with  the  aborigines.  At  this  peri- 
od, the  glory  of  the  Dutch  Military  and  Commercial 
marine  had  reached  its  zenith.  KaHt,  Houtli,  luid  west, 
the  ships  of  Holland  were  boldly  cleaving  liie  farthest 
waters  of  unknown  seas,  to  crown  their  owners'  enter- 
prise with  opulence  and  fame.  Even  to  the  frozen  north, 
Dutch  courage  and  indomitable  resolution  had  penetra- 
ted nearer  to  the  Artie  Pole  than  any  otiier  people  had 
before,  or  have  since ;  accomplishing  such  wonders  at 
this  early  stage  of  Artie  exploration,  as  stand  unrivalled 
even  to  the  present  day,  unless  perhaps  by  the  recent 
exploits  of  Captain  McClure.  Barents,  wliom  fate  de- 
nied the  enthusiastic  homage  of  his  native  land,  was 
that  bold  seaman  who  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  years  be- 
fore Hudson  landed  un  the  shores  of  North  America, 
defied  the  terroi*s  of  a  polar  winter ;  and  planted  the 
blue,  white  and  orange  stripes  of  the  United  Provin- 
ces on  the  most  northern  group  of  European  Islands, 
known  as  Spitzbergen  ;  and  on  Cape  Desii-e,  now  Zelania  ; 
at  the  almost  inaccessible  extremity  of  Novaia  Zemlia. 

If,  then,  to  the  English  appeitains  the  glory  of  a  contest, 
kept  up  for  centuries  against  cold  and  amid  privation*, 
crowned  within  the  last  five  years  by  the  discovery  of 
the  North- West  passage,  by  Captain  McClure;  to  the 
Hollander  is  due  the  credit  of  equally  persevering,  but 
less  successful,  attempts  to  explore  a  North-East  passage 
to  the  riches  of  the  Eastern  world — less  successful  only 
because  unquestionably  beyond  the  stretch  of  possibility 
for  any  one  expedition,  unless  capable  of  keeping  the 
sea  at  least  from  eight  to  ten,  and  in  all  probability 
for  double,  that  period  of,  years. 

In  proof  that  a  passage — not  navigable  however — 

actually  does  exist,  whales  are  known  to  have  passed  to 

a 


/ 


10 
and  fro.  Thus  a  whale,  struck  by  William  Bastiaan/, 
Admiral  of  the  Dutch  Greenland  Fleet,  in  the  Spitzber- 
gen  sea,  was  killed  in  the  sea  of  Tartary,  with  the  Ad- 
miral's harpoon,  bearing  its  initials,  and  other  marks  of 
recognition,  still  sticking  in  his  back.  Muller  relates  a 
similar  circumstance,  as  having  occurred  in  1 7 1 6.  Hamel 
writes  in  1653,  that  every  year  in  the  sea  to  the  North- 
East  of  Korea,  whales  in  great  numbers  are  captured, 
in  whose  flesh  and  blubber  are  found  harpoons,  and 
other  striking  irons  of  the  French  and  Dutch  whalers, 
in  the  seas  washing  the  Northern  extremities  of  Europe ; 
whence,  and  for  similar  reasons,  navigators  throughout 
the  last  five  centuries  were  led  to  believe  that  there 
was,  and  is  a  continuous  passage  through  Behring's  sea 
and  straight,  nround  the  north  of  Asia,  communicating 
with  the  straight  of  Vaigatch,  which  separates  Novdia 
Zemlia  from  Russia  in  Europe ;  nor  does  this  testimony 
stand  alone ;  it  has  other  ample  and  satisfactory  cor- 
roboration. 

To  the  HoUandish  mariner,  the  prudent,  skillful,  brave 
and  experienced  IBarent^ — the  most  distinguished  mar- 
tyr to  Arctic  investigation,  until  the  mystery  of  Sir 
John  Franklin's  loss  transferred  the  sympathy  and  ad- 
miration of  the  scientific  world  to  a  more  recent,  but 
not  more  deserving  object — to  Baratt^  is  conceded  the 
crown  of  having  been  the  first  to  winter  amid  the  hor- 
rors of  the  Polar  cold ;  deprived  of  every  comfort 
which  could  have  ameliorated  the  sojourn ;  dependent 
even  for  vital  warmth  on  the  fires  which  are  kindled  in 
an  indomitatable  Jieari ;  and  uncheered  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  by  the  sight  of,  or  intercourse  with, 
any  human  visitors,  such  as  enlivened  and  varied  the 
winter-life  of  our  most  distinguished,  able,  and  accom- 


11 

plished  explorer,  Dr.  Kane.  Few  readers,  comparative- 
ly, have  turned  their  attention  to  Arctic  geography  and 
discovery  ;  but  to  those  who  have  fully  examined  the 
subject,  the  name  of  Barents  is  a  household  word ;  and 
wc  find  Dr.  Kane,  imprisoned  in  the  frozen  North,  com- 
paring his  position,  and  its  probable  result,  with  that  of 
tlie  Chief- Pilot  of  Amsterdam. 

It  is  wonderful, — and  I  shall  return  to  the  subject 
again, — how  the  journal  of  the  Hollander  seems  to  em- 
body almost  every  incident  which  lends  peculiar  charms 
— charms  which  invest  it  with  an  awful  interest — to  that 
of  every  subsequent  Commander.  Closely  observant, 
Barents  must  have  handled  his  pen  with  the  same  prac- 
tical ability  with  which  he  guided  the  helm  and  adjust- 
ed his  nautical  instruments  ;  for  all  those  phenomena — 
those  astounding,  terrible  attractions — which  enlist  the 
sympathies  of  tlie  brave  in  favor  of  a  Polar  journey, 
and  rise  in  more  than  gigantic  proportions  to  deter  the 
timid  from  enlisting  in  such  an  undertaking,  iind  place 
in  that  old  Log  which  survived  it  composer;  whose 
leaves  of  paper,  by  a  metamorphosis  not  uncommon 
with  authors,  became  changed  into  those  of  laurel,  to 
crown  the  brow  of  him  who  lay  interred  beneath  the 
ice  of  Nova  Zembla.  His  journal  resembles  in  many  re- 
spects the  collection  of  antiquities,  disentombed  from 
Pompeii  and  its  vicinage,  in  which  we  discover  beau- 
tics  unexceeded  l)y  more  recent  efforts,  and  many 
things  which  are  looked  upon  as  modern  discovei'ies, 
although  well  known  and  in  conmion  use  among  the 
ancients. 

''Two  hundred  and  tifty-nine  years  ago,"  writes  Dr. 
Kane, /'  tUUUam  Barents  Chief-Pilot  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral of  Holland, — the  United  States  of  that  day, — ^had 


wintered  on  the  coast  of  Kovaia-Zemlia ;  exploring  the 
northern-most  region  of  the  Old  Continent,  as  we  had 
that  of  the  New.  , 

His  men,  seventeen  in  number,  broke  down  during 
the  trials  of  the  winter,  and  three  died,  just  as  of  our 
eighteen  three  had  gone.  He  abandoned  his  vessel  as 
we  had  abandoned  ours,  took  to  his  boats,  and  escaped 
along  the  Lapland  coast  to  lands  of  Norwegian  civiliza- 
tion. We  had  embarked  with  sledge  and  boat  to  at- 
tempt the  same  thing.  We  had  the  longer  journey  and 
the  more  difficult  before  us.  He  lost,  as  we  had  done, 
a  cherished  comrade  by  the  way-side ;  and,  as  I  thought 
of  this  closing  resemblance  in  our  fortunes  also,  my 
mind  left  but  one  part  of  the  parallel  incomplete — 
Barentz  himself  perislieci'^ 

K  little  further  on  we  shall  see  that  this  parallel  holds 
good  with  regard  to  other  circumstances. 

Whoever  has  enjoyed  in  his  cozy  library  chair,  (be- 
side a  blazing  fire,  by  the  brilliant  light  of  an  argand 
lamp,)  a  trip  to  the  Arctic  regions  in  the  graphic  rela- 
tions aftbrded  us  by  Dr.  Kane,  and  contrasted  their  and 
his  comforts  and  luxui'ies,  must  have  noticed,  (if  they 
read  with  any  attention,)  the  compliment  which  ho  pays 
so  cheerfully  and  gracefully  to  the  early  Dutch  Arctic 
navigators.  When  we  remember  the  immense  improve- 
ments, not  only  in  the  art  of  navigation,  but  the  con- 
struction of  vessels ;  the  vast  advances  in  medicine, 
remedial  pi-eparations  and  surgery  ;  the  perfection  of 
armament,  provisioning,  and  every  other  branch  of  the 
naval  service,  which  relates  to  the  safety  and  cortifort  of 
sailors,  and  the  preservation  of  their  lives,  under  the 
most  disadvantageous  circumstances ;  as  well  tt«  the 
attainment  o  '  the  results  sought,  which  have  been  made 


t"A 


f3 

within  the  last  c  <ry,  our  astonishment  will  >>e  ^ilf 
more  increased,  Vi^en  we  examine  upon  the  map  the' 
extreme  northern  point  attained  hy  the  Dutch  Arctic 
explorer  Barents,  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  years  a^b, 
with  his  small  and  frail  vessels.  ^ ' 

He  pressed  boldly  towards  the  North,  and  from  his' 
log-books  it  has  been  conclusively  demonstrated  that 
he  passed  the  most  northern  point  of  Spitzbergeh^ 
How  much  farther  he  jjenetrated  to  the  north  at  this 
time,  we  cannot  learn  with  any  certainty ;  but  Dr.  Kane 
says:  ''An  open  sea  near  the  Pole,  or  even  an  open 
Polar  basin,  has  been  a  topic  of  theory  for  a  long  titrie,' 
and  has  been  shadowed  forth  to  some  extent  bv  actual' 
or  supposed  discoveries.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of 
Bannt^,  in  159G,  without  refering  to  the  earlier  and 
more  uncertain  chronicles,  water  was  seen  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  northern-most  Cape  of  Novaia-Zemlia ;  and 
until  its  limited  extent  was  defined  by  direct  observa- 
tion, it  was  assumed  to  be  the  sea  itself.  The  DiitcK 
fishermen,  above  and  around  Spitzbergcn,  pushed  their 
adventurous  cruises  through  the  ice  into  open  spaces- 
varying  in  size  and  form  witli  the  season  and  the 
winds ;  and  Dr.  Scoresby,  a  veneratetl  authority,  alludes 
to  such  vacancies  in  the  floe,  as  pointing  in  argument  to 
a  freedom  of  movement  from  the  north,  indicating  open 
water  in  the  neighborhood. of  the  Pole." 

vScoresby,  the  elder,  infers  that  it  Avas  Uarcnt^'s  in- 
tention, in  1596,  to  make  a  iram-^o\wY  voyage  in  pur- 
suance of  the  scheme  suggested,  in  1527,  by  Robert 
Thorne,  of  Bristol ;  which  was  inmiediately  attempted 
by  two  ships,  fitted  out  undiM-  the  sanction,  and,  per- 
haps, under  the  pationage,  of  Henry  Vlll. 

Wonderful,  Ave  nuiy  say,  as  were  the  results  attained 


/ 


14 

with  such  inadequate  means ;  they  are  still  more  won- 
derful when  we  compare  them  with  the  very  little,  if 
any,  more  important,  compassed  during  the  present  cen- 
tury, with  all  the  superior  advantages  already  enumer- 
ated, without  considering  the  immense  facilities  afford- 
ed by  the  auxiliary  aid  of  steam.  "It  is  remarkable  that 
two  centuries  of  extreme  activity  should  have  added 
so  very  little  to  our  knowledge  of  the  Arctic  regions ;" 
and  it  is  still  more  mortifying  to  consider  how  little 
progress  has  been  made  in  geographical  discovery, 
since  the  earliest  adventurers  intrepidly  explored  the 
Polar  Archipelago  with  their  humble  barks,  which  sel- 
dom exceeded  the  burden  of  fifty  tons.  "The  relations 
of  the  earlier  navigators  to  these  parts,  "-i«  the  testimony 
of  the  scientific  authors  of  the  volumes  entitled  "Dis- 
covery and  Adventures  in  the  Polar  Seas  and  Region^,'' 
"possess  an  interest  which  has  not  yet  been  eclipsed.' - 
"The  voyage  of  Martens,  from  Hamburg  to  Spitzbergen, 
may  be  cited  as  still  the  most  instructive.  But  the  best 
and  completest  work  on  the  subject  of  the  Northern 
Fisheries,  \A  a  treatise  in  three  volumes,  (octavo,) 
translated  from  the  Dutch  language  into  French,  by 
Bernard  de  Reste,  and  published  at  Paris  in  1801,  un- 
der the  title,  "  Histoire  des  Peches,  des  Decouvertes, 
^t  des  Etablivsseniens  des  Hollandais  dcins  les  Mers  du 
Nord." 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1590,  Uavcnt^  discovered  land 
in  the  latitude  of  80  deg.  10  min.  with  his  little  ships 
or  vlieboats, — last  sailing  vessels  with  two  masts,  and 
usually  of  about  100  tons  burthen, — so  called,  sdy  vari- 
ous authors,  because  built  expressly  for  the  difficult  nav- 
igation of  the  Vlie  and  Texel.  In  1827,  with  all  the 
appliances  and  and  resources  of  the  Bi'itisli  Government 


15 
at  his  command,  and  stimulated  by  the  prize  of  national 
rewai'd,  Parry  made  his  way  by  the  aid  of  boats  and 
rude  sledges,  over  the  ice,  less  than  three  degrees  far- 
ther north — 82  deg.  40  min. 

In  the  same  years  (1596-7,)  the  bold  Amsterdammer 
passed  a  Polar  winter  on  the  shores  of  Nova  Zembla, 
and  experienced  all  the  privations,  dangers,  and  inten- 
sity of  suffering,  without  any  resources  except  those 
arising  from  his  own  indomitable  resolution  ;  much  less 
than  which,  amid  a  comparative  abundance  of  luxuries, 
prepared  without  regard  to  expense,  and  at  the  utmost 
exertion  of  science,  have  confen*ed  a  world-wide  repu- 
tation on  more  than  one  officer  connected  with  subse- 
quent Artie  expeditions.  When  we  read  in  the  ac- 
counts of  those  determined  men,  the  perils  to  which 
their  fragile  vessels — scarcely,  if  ever,  exceeding  the 
burthen  of  100  tons,  and  generally  from  10  to  35  and 
50  tons  measurement — ^were  exposed ;  the  dangers  from 
climate  and  disease ;  from  the  savage  beasts  of  the  Po- 
lar circle,  against  which  they  had  to  wage  war  with  fire 
arms  the  most  imperfect,  and  weapons  still  more  primi- 
tive and  ineffective,  their  escape  would  almost  seem 
miraculous,  and  their  success  a  special  Providence  vouch- 
safed in  consideration  of  their  deep  religious  trust  in 
the  Almighty ;  and  their  child-iike  faith  in  His  power 
to  guard  them  against  all  perils,  even  when  cut  off  from 
the  rest  of  the  world  by  impassible  barriers  of  ice- 
mountains  and  ice-bound  seas.  What  modern  sailors 
credit  to  "luck,"  "chance,"  and  "fortune,"  the  "old  salts" 
of  former  days  attributed  to  Providence,  that  superin- 
tending Providence  which  watched  over  and  delivered 
them. 

Dr.  Kane  seems  to  dwell  upon  JJare nt^  as  the  Patriarch 


/ 


16 

of  Artie  explorers ;  and  as  he  was  the  fii'st  of  the  Hol- 
landers, of  whose  voyages  of  discovery  within  the  Artie 
cirele  we  have  authentic  accounts ;  with  him  commences 
the  narrative  of  the  expeditions  of  the  Dutch  to  those 
regions,  and  in  fact  all  others  in  search  of  the  north 
east  passage. 

But  the  audience  may  already  have  remarked,  What 
have  the  Dutch  Expeditions  to  the  Arctic  regions,  or 
the  JDntclj  at  tl)e  ^ortt)  {)oU,  to  do  with  the  jDntd)  in 
iHaine  ?  Much.  The  connection  is  complete,  and  the 
transition  easy  and  natural.  In  1609,  ijeiibridf  $tib0Oti,  on 
his  third  voyage — his  first  under  the  Dutch  flag — in  the 
famous  "Half  Moon,"  in  search  of  the  North  East  Pass- 
age into  the  Pacific,  finding  his  farther  progress  arrest- 
ed by  the  ice,  and  other  impediments  resulting  from  jts 
presence ;  suddenly  put  his  helm  up,  and  bore  away 
for  the  shores  of  North  America ;  where  he  made  his 
first  landing  on  the  coast  of  Maine,  having  come  to  an 
anchor  in  Penobscot  Bay. 

With  this  explanatory  clause,  we  leave  the  shores  of 
Acadie,  to  revisit  those  of  the  frozen  North. 

As  was  remarked  before,  the  parallel  drawn  by  Dr. 
Kane  between  the  details  of  his  own  winter  sojourn  and 
that  of  jBarent^,  in  the  extreme  Arctic  regions,  holds 
good  with  regai'd  to  other  circumstances- "a  parallel,"  the 
Doctor  adds,  "which  might  ver*  ?y  that  sad  truth  of  his- 
tory, that  human  adventure  repeats  itself;"  and  another 
noted  work  on  the  Polar  Seas  and  Regions  observes, 
that  "all  the  changes  of  the  Polar  ice  are  periodical,  and 
are  again  repeated  at  no  very  distant  interval  of  time ;" 
nature,  as  it  were,  thus  lending  her  aid  to  complete  the 
cheerful  or  harrowing  resemblance. 
„;The  Hon'ble  Daines  Barrington,  in  the  two  first  pa- 


/■ 


17 

pers  of  "Instances  of  navigators  who  have  reached  high 
northern  latitudes,"  "produces  four  examples  of  vessels 
having  sailed  to  latitude  81  1-2  deg. ;  seven  to  82  deg. 
or  upward ;  three  to  83  deg.  or  more ;  six  vessels  in 
company  to  86  deg. ;  three  examples  to  88  deg. ;  two 
ships  in  company  to  89  deg.  and  one  to  89  1-2  deg.  be- 
sides several  others  brought  forward  in  his  latter  papers." 
He  gives  due  credit  to  the  reports  of  Dutch  whalers, 
and  it  seems  very  evident  to  any  but  envious  or  incred- 
ulous rivals,  that  those  who  have  penetrated  nearest  to 
the  northern  pole  have  been  Dutch  or  Hollandish  ves- 
sels, whose  masters  claim  no  credit  to  themselves — that 
is  to  their  individual  exertions,  physical  or  mental — for 
their  remarkable  approximation  to  that  extreme  point, 
except  that  they  were  up  North  at  the  nick  of  time,  and 
taking  advantage  of  favorable  winds  and  currents,  made 
their  way  through  openings  in  the  icy  barrier  as  far 
north  as  88  deg.,  and  even  89  deg.  40  min.  latitude, 
only  twenty  miles  from  the  Arctic  pole  itself  Mr.  or 
Captain  Scoresby  in  his  "Artie  Regions,"  and  other  Eng- 
lish writers  in  their  publications,  attempt  to  discredit 
these  wondrous  achievements  of  Hollandish  shipmasters, 
while  he  admits  that  no  people  on  the  meridian  of  the 
Nova  Zembla — or  more  properly  speaking,  perhaps,  on 
the  meridian  of  Europe — have  penetrated  as  far  to  the 
North  as  the  Dutch  ;  on  the  meridian  of  Asia  as  the 
Russians ;  and  of  America  as  the  English  ;  if  they  have 
not  lost  their  chaplet  by  the  late  expedition  under  Dr. 
Kane.  The  same  author  fully  endorses  the  adventurous 
spirit  which  actuated  the  Dutch  whale-fishermen,  and 
eulogizes  the  ability,  frugality  and  endurance,  which 
characterized  all  their  operations. 

"The  Dutch" — ^says  the  younger  Scoresby,  no  mean 

8 


■    u  ■ 

aiithority,  for  he  had  been  a  prosperous  whaling-master 
Himself — "have  been  eminently  distinguished  for  the 
vigor  and  success  with  which,  for  the  space  of  niore 
than  a  century,  they  prosecuted  the  whale-fishery  at 
^pitzbergen."  When,  after  the  competition  between 
the  Dutch  and  English  had  gone  to  such  lengths,  and 
the  former  had  been  compelled  to  resort  to  arms,  against 
the  unjustifiable  aggressions  of  the  latter,  both  nations 
sent  armed  fleets  to  the  fishing  grounds,  whose  broad- 
sides, reverberating  from  the  ice-mountains  and  snow- 
clad  rocks,  ought  to  have  delighted  the  whales,  wal- 
russes,  and  other  denizens  of  the  deep,  could  they  have 
comprehended  that  the  roar  of  human  conflict,  emulating 
fhe  din  of  their  own  elements  and  zone,  betokened  the 
inutual  slaughter  of  their  most  inveterate  enemies !    i 

This  naval  warfare,  in  which  the  Dutch  Whaling  Na- 
vy were  ultimately  successful — defeating,  in  1618,  the 
English  in  a  general  encounter,  and  capturing  one  of 
their  ships,  which  was  carried  as  a  trophy  into  the  port 
of  Amsterdam,  resulted  in  the  districting  of  Spitzbergen, 
the  head-quarters  of  tlie  European  whale  fishery,  in 
which  the  Dutch  played  such  a  conspicuous  part,  whose 
enterprise,  says  Forster,  "was  in  the  fulness  of  its  splendor 
from  1614  to  1641 ;"  and  according  to  De  Reste,  "in  its 
most  flourishing  state  about  the  year  1630."  To  the 
Dutch  was  assigned  the  northern  portion  of  the  island, 
where,  on  Amsterdam-Island,  upon  the  shore  of  Hol- 
landers'-Bay,  they  built  their  Arctic  metropolis,  appro- 
priately entitled  "Smeerenberg," — Grease-  or  Fat-  [i.  e. 
Blubber-]  Town  ;  or,  according  to  the  best  authority,  the 
Dutch  "  Description  of  the  Whale  Fishery,"  "Smeeren- 
berg" — a  compound  word,  derived  from  "Smeer,"  Fat, 
and  "Bergen,"  to  preserve,  i.  e.  put,  or  barrel,  up. 


19 

Such,  indeed,  was  the  bustle  produced  by  the  ye<irly 
arrival  of  two  or  three  hundred  vessels,  containing 
from  twelve  thousand  to  eighteen  thousand  men,  being 
doubly  manned,  that  the  haven,  with  its  boiling-houses, 
ware-houses,  cooperages,  ropewalks,  ^d  other  appro- 
priate erections — not  to  mention  shops,  dwellings  and 
places  of  public  entertainment — presented  the  appearance 
of  a  commercial  or  nianufoi^turing  town ;  and  of  such  im- 
portance was  this  settlerient,  that  the  incentive  of  a  lucra- 
tive traffic  attracted  '.umbers  of  transient  merchants 
and  salesmen,  and  even  bakers,  and  other  mechanics. 
When  storuLS,  thick  weather,  or  any  other  accidental 
cause,  drove  tlie  vast  fleet  of  fishing  vessels  into  port, 
the  naturally  sterile  and  desolate  shores  of  Spitzbergen 
assumed  the  appearance  of  a  thickly  settled  country.  And 
such  was  the  flourishing  aspect  of  Smeercnberg,  that  it 
was  compared  by  the  Hollanders  with  their  famous  em- 
bryo metropolis  of  Java,  which  was  founded  abput  the 
very  same  time ;  and  proudly  pointed  out  upon  the  map 
— within  but  a  few  miles  more  than  ten  degrees  of  the 
Pole  itself — jus  their  Arctic  Batavia. 

Let  us  now  examine,  as  concisely  as  the  subject  will 
permit,  the  results  of  some  of  the  early  Arctic  voyages, 
as  far  as  regards  the  latitude  attained  preparatory  to  the 
consideration  of  those  directed  to  the  North  Eastward, 
and  peculiarly  Hollandish  or  Dutch.  !^ 

In  1587,  Davis  ascended  the  strait,  wliich  beai's  his 
name,  as  high  as  72  deg.  12  min.  ;  in  1607  Hudson 
made  his  way  through  the  Greenland  seas  to  the  lati- 
tude of  81  deg.  and  saw,  as  he  believed,  land  as  high  as 
82  deg. ;  in  1616  Baffin  penetrated  the  bay  named  in 
his  honor,  as  high  as  78  deg. 

Here  a  long  blank  occurs  in  the  authentic  journals  of 


20 

Aretio  voyages  until  1751,  when  Captain  McCallam,  ta- 
lcing his  departure  from  Hackluyt's  Headland,  on  Am- 
sterdam Island,  off  the  north  west  point  of  Spitzbcrgen, 
sailed  into  an  open  sea  in  latitude  83  deg.  30  min.  and 
with  such  propitious  weather,  that  nothing  but  his  re- 
sponsibility to  the  owners  for  the  safety  of  the  ship — 
his  own  timidity  perhaps — prevented  him  from  carry- 
ing his  vessel  farther  on.  In  the  last  days  of  May,  1754, 
Mr.  Stephens,  whose  testimony  is  endorsed  throughout 
by  the  late  English  Astronomer-Royal,  Dr.  Maskelyne, 
was  blown  off  Spitzbergen  by  a  southerly  wind,  and 
driven  as  iiir  north  sis  84  deg.  DO  min.  Throughout  that 
drift  he  encountered  but  little  ice  and  no  drift  wood,  and 
experienced  a  by  no  means  excessive  degree  of  cold. 

About  itlic  end  of  June  of  the  same  year,  Captain 
Wilson  made  his  way  through  floating  ice  from  74  deg. 
to  81  deg.  and  thence  sailed  on  over  an  open  sea,  quite 
clear,  as  far  as  he  could  discern,  to  83  deg.  when  he  lost 
heart  and  returned  to  the  south.  Captain  Guy,  after 
four  days  of  fog,  likewise  found  himself  at  the  same  lat- 
itude, about  the  verv  same  time. 

It  is  curious  how  the  English,  while  they  tax  our 
credulity  to  its  utmost  extent  in  favor  of  their  own  peo- 
ple, are  willing  to  concede  but  little  credence  to  the 
honest  assertions  of  successful  individuals  belonging  to 
any  other  nation,  even  when  those  relations  seem,  to  all 
impartial  investigators,  indisputable.  Here  we  have 
three  English  Captains  corroborating  the  narratives  of 
Hollandisli  schippers,  and  admitting  that  they  might 
themselves  have  gone  much  fai'ther,  had  their  hearts 
been  as  stout  as  the  opportunities  were  auspicious. 
We  Knickerbockers  have  every  reason  to  put  implicit 
faith  in  the  statements  of  our  ancestral  race,  whose  in- 


21 

tegrity  and  truthfulness  are  proverbial.  Let  us  place  cfn 
record,  stamped  at  all  events  with  our  belief,  that  Hol- 
landers have  made  their  way,  as  they  claim,  to  89  deg. 
40  min., — within  twenty  miles  ofthe  North  Pole  itself! 
But  to  resume :  in  difterent  subsequent  years,  cer- 
tainly in  1766,  the  (Greenland  whalers  attained  the 
latitude  of  81  deg.  or  82  deg. ;  in  1773,  Coptain  Clark 
sailed  to  81  deg.  30  m. ;  Captain  Bateson  to  82  deg.  16 
m. ;  in  1806,  the  elder  Mr.  Scoresby  to  81  deg.  30  m. ; 
and  in  1811  the  higher  latitudes  were  again  accessible ; 
likewise  in  1816-16-17.  This  brings  us  down  to  expe- 
ditions, Avhose  narratives  are  to  be  found  in  every  public 
library,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  add,  that  although  Parry 
made  his  way  over  the  ice  to  82  deg.  40,  m.  and  Dr.  Kane 
in  like  manner  to  81  deg.  23  m.,  no  ship  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  rivalling  the  achievement  of  more  than  one  of 
the  Dutch  and  English  whalers,  although  the  palm  re- 
mains Avith  the  first — the  Dutch. 
>  Let  us  now  turn  back  again,  and  examining  the  chro- 
nological list  of  Arctic  voyagers,  confine  ourselves  to 
those  of  the  Dutch  in  that  portion  of  the  Arctic  Ocean 
to  which  they  seem  to  have  directed  their  whole  atten- 
tion ;  as  well  Jis  those  of  the  Engli.sh,  for  th(!  discovery 
of  a  North  East  Passage ;  or,  jis  some  say,  of  a  trans- 
polar  passage.  The  first  on  record  is  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish, which  dates  from  1527,  when  two  ships  (one  bear- 
ing the  cheering  name  of  "Dominus  Vobiscum,")  were 
dispatched  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  for  discoveries 
in  the  direction  of  the  North  Pole.  This  expedition 
was  void  of  results,  and  one  of  the  ships  did  not  return. 
The  second,  in  1553,  was  that  of  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby 
and  Richard  Chancellor — of  which,  more  anon  ;  of  their 
three  ships  and  crews,  but  one  returned  :  that  immedi- 


fttely  commanded  by  Chancellor,  whose  furthest  north- 
em  and  eastern  limit  was  the  discovery  of  the  White 
Sea.  The  third,  in  1556,  was  that  of  Stephen  Bar- 
roughs,  in  a  small  vessel,  the  ^^Searchthrift,"  who  visjted 
Novaia-Zemlia,  most  probably  the  southern  coast,  and 
discovered  the  island  of  Yaigatch,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  strait  of  the  same  name.  The  fourth,  that  in  1580, 
when  Arthur  Pet  and  CharleH.lackson,  in  the  "George" 
and  the  "William,"  sailed  from  England  in  search  of  the 
North  East  Passage ;  one  of  the  ships  made  its  way 
through  the  Strait  of  Vaigatch,  but  of  the  other  no  ti- 
dings were  ever  received,  except  that  it  had  wintered 
in  a  Norwegian  port.  The  fifth,  in  1594,  was  the  first 
voyage  of  JBarent^,  Cornells  Conielison,  and  others.  The 
sixth,  in  1595,  was  the  Dutch  National  Expedition,  in 
which  Bareni^  acted  as  Chief-Pilot.  The  seventh,  in 
1596,  was  that  in  which  Barents  discovered  Bear-Island 
and  Spitzbergen,  and  lost  his  life.  The  eighth,  was  in 
1608,  when  an  English  vesael  under  (Qenbriik  ^nbson-our 
Hudson — uiade  its  way  as  i'ar  as  the  coast  of  Nova-Zem- 
bla,  but  prematurely  returned.  The  ninth,  was  in  1609, 
when  Hud8on,having  transferred  his  services  to  the  Dutch, 
started  a  second  time,  ostensibly  to  explore  a  North 
East  Passage,  while  his  heart  was  fixed  on  that  to  the 
North  West.  He  .sailed  to  the  eastward  as  far  as  the 
Port  of  VardoehuuH,  in  Norwegian  Lapland,  when,  pre- 
tending to  have  been  arrested  by  fog  and  ice,  he  re- 
passed the  North  Cape  and  steered  across  the  x\tlantic 
for  America.  Scoresby,  in  his  narrative,  sryy:  '"T^h^ 
desijTu  of  this  curious  navigation  is  not  known"  ;  Hud- 
son rriay  not  have  communicated  his  design,  but  his 
reason  •.  are  evident  without  explanation  :  he  Avas,  no 
doubt,  ;<4lisfied   that  Barents  had   done   all    that   man 


could  towards  solving  the  question  of  a  North  East 
Pjuodge,  and  had  failed.  To  the  Morlh  West  and  West, 
many  maintained  that  n  transit  was  no  less  certain  than 
that  to  the  North  East  was  nncertaiti.  This  he  deter- 
mined to  assay,  and  supposed  that  he  had  succeeded 
when  he  entered  the  bay  of  New  York. 

The  tenth  wa»s  in  1611,  or  1614,  when  a  Hollandm 
ship  is  said  to  have  accomplished  one  hundred  leagues 
to  the  Eixstward  of  Novaia  Zemliu. 

This  was  an  extraordinary  achievement,  and  must 
have  brought  the  Dutchman,  (taking  into  consideration 
the  enormous  difference  between  a  degree  of  longitude 
at  the  equator  and  in  this  high  latitude,)  within  sight 
of,  if  not  up  to.  Cape  Severo  Vostochnoi.  At  all  events, 
this  triumph  for  the  tri-color  of  Holland  is  not  without 
authority ;  for  Scoresby  enumerates  the  voyage  in  his 
Chronological  List. 

The  eleventh,  was  that  of  Jan  Mayen  in  1611-12  or 
'13,  when  that  enterprising  Dutch  navigator  discovered 
that  lone  island,  which  now  bears  his  name,  although 
once  known  as  Mauritius,  or  St.  Maurice  Island,  in  honor 
of  the  Stadtholder,  Prince  Maurice. 

The  twelfth  and  last,  was  the  abortive  attempt,  in 
1676,  of  Captains  John  Wood  and  William  Flawes,  who 
were  sent  out  with  two  ships  by  the  English  Admiralty. 
As  Wood,  and  his  ship  "The  Speedwell,"  alone  are 
mentioned,  Flawes  may  have  been  recalled,  or  detained 
on  the  way.  At  all  events,  the  Speedwell  was  wrecked 
on  the  west  coast  of  Nova  Zembla ;  and  Wood  brought 
home  such  n  gloomy  impression  of  the  dangers  that 
were  to  be  eneountered  in  that  quarter,  that  the  idea 
of  sailing   a-ound  the  North  of  Asia  into  the  Pacific 


24 
Ocean  was  abandoned,  upon  his  return,  and  report,  at 
once  and  for  ever. 

And  now  once  more  let  us  return  to  I3a^nt^    . 

There  would  seem  to  be  some  races  of  men  who  will 
not  bow  to  or  acknowledge  any  superior  but  the  Lord ; 
and  in  the  consciousness  of  His  assistance  display  a  fear- 
less energy  in  combating  not  only  the  oppressions  of 
stronger  and  more  numerous  peoples,  but  even  the  ut- 
most terrors  of  nature.  Such  are  the  Dutch  or  Holland- 
ers, concerning  whom  no  testimony  can  be  deemed  more 
reliable  than  that  of  the  Germans,  at  once  a  cognate 
and  a  rival  race.     And  what  say  they  ? 

"Rectitude,  candor,  honesty,  constancy,  patience, 
equanimity,  temperance,  cleanliness,  carried  almost  to 
excess,  plainness  in  their  manner  of  living,  fidelity  to 
their  word,  are  particularly  prominent  attributes  of  the 
Dutch.  They  are  reproached,  hoAvever,  with  avarice, 
greediness  of  gain,  and  inquisitiveness.  Their  confi- 
dence in  their  own  powers,  which  has  often  the  appear- 
ance of  cold  indiiference,  their  imperturbability,  and 
their  circumspectness  in  answering  and  in  judging,  have 
brought  upon  them  the  reputation  of  sluggishness ;  al- 
though no  one  can  deny  that  they  possess  industry,  cour- 
age, and  contempt  of  every  danger,  particularly  in  un- 
dertakings considered  likely  to  result  in  profit  to  them- 
selves." 

Having  in  a  great  measure  freed  themselves  from  the 
ferocious  tyranny  of  Spain,  the  people  of  the  United 
Provinces  no  sooner  found  themselves  relieved  from  im- 
mediate danger,  than  they  turned  their  eyes  towards 
the  true  source  of  their  power  and  wealth,  the  Ocean ; 
that  element  which  surrounded  and  penetrated  their 
country  on  all  sides,  which  towered  as  it  were  above 


25 

them,  and  which,  when  roused  to  fury,  menaced  their 
very  existence.  Still  there  was  a  kindliness  mingled 
with  its  enmity ;  and  the  Hollander  might  say — as  the 
Dane — that  the  salt  sea  was  his  friend,  whose  jealousy 
brooked  no  other  proud  invader ;  and  held  itself  in 
readiness  to  drive  forth  the  foreign  foe,  who  dared  to 
contest  with  it  the  prized  possession. 

To  the  merchant  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  the  eastern  realms  of  Asia  were  the  Alembic, 
which  was  to  transmute  his  enterprise  into  gold ;  to  him 
the  countries  and  islands,  gold  and  gem-encrusted,  spice- 
scented,  and  silk  and  tissue  draperied,  known  under  the 
general  name  of  the  East — ^were  the  Philosopher's  stone 
which  should  change  to  power  and  prosperity  the  toil 
and  sweat  of  his  laborious  days,  and  vigils  of  his  wakeful 
nights.  Unable  as  yet  to  defy  the  mighty  Armadas  of 
Spain,  those  "castles  on  the  deep,"  which  guarded  the 
approaches  to  the  sources  of  those  golden  streams,  which 
alone  and  so  long  had  enabled  the  Spanish  Monarch 
to  continue  the  contest  for  the  subversion  of  their  rights 
and  liberty,  they  determined  to  attempt,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  north-eastern  passage,  and  bearding  winter  in  his  pene- 
tralia, arrive  at  the  wished  for  goal,  by  a  new  and  un- 
explored channel.  With  no  other  countenance  than  the 
bare  permission  of  the  States  General  and  their  high 
Admiral,  the  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  a  "private  so- 
ciety" of  merchants  equipped  at  Amsterdam,  Enchuy- 
sen,  and  Zealand,  a  squadron  of  three  vessels  and  an 
attendant  yacht.  Whether  he  enjoyed  the  supreme 
nominal  command  or  not,  the  actual  guidance  of  the 
whole  was  entrusted  to  iUilliam  Sarentj,  commander  or 
Pilot  of  the  Amsterdam  ship — or,  as  Dr.  Kane  styles 
him,  Chief  Pilot  of  the  States  General  of  Holland, — ^who 

4 


M 


26 

approved  himself  one  of  the  most  expert  nautical  men 
of  the  age,  prolific  in  able  and  adventurous  Navigators. 

Thus  an  Arctic  voyage  of  discovery,  the  offspring  of 
private  enterprise,  was  the  first  grand  undertaking  of 
the  greatest  Free-state  of  the  Old  World,  scarcely  yet 
emancipated  from  the  shackles  of  Spain. 

'There  were  noble-hearted  Grinnells  in  those  days, 
and  the  History  of  Holland  teems  with  instances  of  in- 
dividuals actuated  by  like  generous  sentiments. 

This  expedition  sailed  from  the  Texel  on  the  5th  of 
June,  1594  ;  and  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month  reached 
the  island  of  Kalguez,  at  the  mouth  of  the  broad  chan- 
nel which  contracts  into  the  Strait  of  Vaigatch,  through 
which  one  division  of  two  ships,  under  Comelis  Cor- 
nelison,  made  their  way  into  the  Karskoe  Sea,  or  sea  of 
Kara,  in  which  they  proceeded  forty  leagues,  or  oiie 
hundred  and  sixty  miles,  to  the  eastward ;  when,  find- 
ing a  wide,  blue,  open  expanse  of  water  before  them, 
with  the  coast  trending  rapidly  to  the  southward,  instead 
of  pursuing  the  discovery,  they  determined  to  hasten 
back  and  communicate  to  their  countrymen  the  joyful 
news  of  their  imaginary  discovery  of  the  North  East 
Passage.  In  fact,  however,  they  had  only  opened  the 
Gulf  of  Obi,  and  a  few  days'  farther  progress  would 
have  brought  them  in  contact  with  the  shores  of  the 
Samojedes  country;  thereby  proving  that  the  land 
which  they  deemed  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia  was 
nothing  in  reality  but  those  of  the  Tobolsk  Peninsula. 
Barfnt^,  however,  steered  a  bolder  course,  and  examin- 
ed the  whole  western  coast  of  Nova-Zembla ;  desig- 
nating all  the  remarkable  points  with  appropriate 
names,  from  Latitude  77  deg.  45  min.  down  as  far  as 
71  degrees.     By  the  first  of  August,  the  intrepid  navi- 


i< 


27 
gator  had  actually  reached  the  northern  extremity  of 
Novaia-Zemlia,  in  Longitude  77  deg.  east ;  but  beyond 
that  distant  point  he  encountered  so  much  tempest- 
driven  ice,  that  he  abandoned  all  hope  of  more  sun 
cessful  progress  further  at  that  time;  and,  sorely 
against  his  will,  retraced  his  homeward  course.  On 
the  coast  of  Russian  Lapland,  he  met  the  returning 
Comelison ;  and,  thus  strangely  reunited,  the  two  divis- 
ions arrived  in  the  Texel,  on  the  sixteenth  of  Septem- 
ber. 

One  incident  of  this  voyage  is  so  amusing,  that  it  is 
well  worthy  repetition  here.  Although  beaten  in  a 
pitched  battle  against  the  sea-horses  or  sea-cows,  at  the 
Orange  isles,  the  Hollanders  appear  to  have  had  but  little 
conception  of  the  ferocity  and  power  of  the  polar-bear; 
one  of  which,  having  been  wounded,  they  succeeded  in 
noosing,  in  the  idea  of  leading  him  about  like  a  dog ; 
and  eventually  carrying  him  back  as  a  trophy  to  Hol- 
land. They  found,  however,  they  had  caught  a  tartar ; 
for  the  furious  animal  not  only  routed  the  party,  but 
boarded  and  made  himself  master  of  their  boat.  Luck- 
ily for  them,  his  noose  became  entangled  in  the  iron 
work  about  the  rudder ;  and  the  crew,  who  had  been 
actually  driven  over  the  bows,  preferring  to  trust  them- 
selves rather  to  the  mercy  of  the  icy-sea,  than  to  the 
jaws  and  claws  of  the  monster,  finding  him  caught, 
mustered  courage,  fell  upon  him  in  a  body,  and  dis- 
patched him. 

The  reports  of  this  expedition,  although  their  con- 
clusions were  erroneous,  could  scarcely  have  been  more 
glorious,  as  far  as  regards  the  reputation  they  have  won 
for  Barentj.  Unfortunately,  the  mistaken  views  of  Cor- 
nelison  excited  the  most  exaggerated  hopes  in  the  Gov- 


r- 


28 

emment  and  people  of  Holland.  Led  astray  by  this 
false  confidence,  Prince  Maurice,  the  States-General, 
and  the  whole  country^  contributed  ample  funds,  with 
which  a  fleet  of  six  large  vessels,  and  an  attendant 
yacht,  were  fitted  out ;  not  as  for  adventure  and  discov- 
ery, but  for  the  prosecution  of  a  certain  lucrative  trade 
with  the  golden  regions  of  the  East. 

Of  this  magnificent  Commercial  Armada,  iDUUatn 
Barents  was  constituted  the  Chief  Pilot  and  Conductor ; 
but  all  his  abilities  could  not  avert  a  speedy  and  unhap- 
py failure.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  unsuitable 
to  narrow,  winding,  ice-encumbered  seas,  than  the  lofty, 
deeply-laden,  and  unwieldy  ships  which  now  adventur- 
ed in  them. 

Beset  by  more  than  usually  abundant  ice,  and  driven 
from  their  course  by  a  continual  succession  of  contrary 
winds, — of  all  the  Arctic  undertakings,  none  proved  so 
abortive  as  this ;  which,  prepared  without  regard  to 
expense,  resulted  not  only  in  immense  pecuniary  loss, 
but  in  deterring  the  HoUandish  government  from  af- 
fording further  assistance  to  efforts  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. 

This  National  Expedition — for  so  it  may  be  justly 
styled — which  sailed  from  the  Texel,  on  the  sec- 
ond of  June,  1595,  having  thus  proved  so  unfortunate 
in  every  respect,  it  would  have  been  almost  reasonable 
to  suppose,  that  it  would  have  put  an  end,  for  a  time  at 
least,  to  such  efforts.  Not  so,  however.  Although  the 
States-General  refused  to  subsidize  those  who  wished  to 
renew  the  experiment,  they  nevertheless  offered  a  high 
reward,  to  stimulate  their  countrymen,  in  attempting 
the  discovery  of  the  earnestly-desired  North-East  Pass- 
age.    The  Town  Council  of  Amsterdam  prepared  two 


/■ 


29 

small  vessels,  and  equipped  them  for  the  purpose  of 
discovery  alone.  Of  these,  one  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  the  experienced  Barents ;  the  other,  of  one 
Jan  (ttomelia  I^bP-  Some  historians,  however,  assert 
that  one  vessel  was  commanded  by  lacob  l)an  ijetmskerb, 
and  the  other  by  Ian  Cornells  H^ ;  both  able,  resolute 
and  enterprising  Captains, — Barents  acting  as  Chief 
Pilot  and  Ice-Master.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Barents  exer- 
cised the  supreme  direction ;  he  only  is  known  to  fame, 
and  justly  so.  He  was  the  master  spirit,  and  immortal- 
ized himself:  of  both  the  others,  we  hear  little.  At  all 
events,  no  account  was  ever  given  of  what  Ryp  actually 
accomplished;  and  no  important  discovery  has  ever 
been  attributed  to  his  exertions,  in  the  second  vessel. 
As  experience  has  subsequently  demonstrated,  this  ex- 
pedition, which  left  the  Port  of  Amsterdam,  on  the 
tenth  of  May,  1596,  sailed  too  late  for  successful  Arctic 
exploration;  yet,  notwithstanding,  accomplished  suffi- 
cient to  demand  the  utmost  efforts  of  near  three  hun^ 
dred  years  to  rival  the  extent  of  its  results.  ' 

The  English  have  endeavored  to  rob  the  Dutch  of  the 
honor  of  their  discoveries,  during  this  voyage — (even 
as  in  the  New  World,  native  historians  have  striven  to 
deprive  the  Hollanders  of  much  similar  credit  due  to 
them  on  the  Western  Continent) — ^in  this  case,  how- 
ever, unsuccessfully. 

On  the  ninth  of  June,  Barents  discovered  a  long, 
high  and  rocky  island — shaped  somewhat  like  a  saddle, 
i.  e.  high  at  either  extremity  and  low  in  the  middle — 
erroneously  supposed  to  have  been  first  seen  by  the 
English  Bennet,  in  1603 — whose  horrible  repulsive- 
ness  invested  it  with  every  attribute  appropriate  to  the 
home  of  desolation   and    despair.     Above    its    lofty 


30 

black-^wherever  free  from  ice  and  snow — and  almost 
inaccessible  cliffs,  broken  into  a  thousand  preci- 
pices, towered  that  sheer  peak  which  still  is  known 
by  the  befitting  title  of  Mount  Misery.  This  lone 
and  dreary  spot  the  stalwort  Dutchman,  Barents,  named 
"Bear  Island,"  from  the  circumstance  of  having  slain 
upon  it  a  large  bear,  whose  skin  measurr  i  twelve  feet 
in  length — a  title,  which  the  English  afterwards  tried 
to  supplant  by  that  of  "Alderman  Cherie." 

Bartntj  next  made  Spitzbergen,  or,  as  it  was  long 
called,  East  Greenland ;  and  coasted  its  western  shore, 
even  to  its  utmost  northern  extremity.  Many  writers 
have  asserted  that  this  vast  tract  of  Polar  land,  or  Ar- 
chipelago, was  first  discovered,  or,  rather,  dimly  seen — 
only  seen — through  mist  and  tempest,  by  Sii*  Hugh 
WiLLOUGHBY,  in  1553,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Vlth 
of  England ;  but,  as  neither  the  Commander,  nor  any 
of  his  mariners,  ever  returned,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
verify  what  land  he  actually  caught  a  glimpse  of;  and 
what  countries  he  did  not  set  eyes  on. 

Thus,  the  first  prow  which  sought  to  cleave  its  icy 
barrier,  remains  to  this  day  the  trophy  of  the  Arctic 
Circle ;  and  poor  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  was  the  Sir  John 
Franklin  of  the  XVIth  Century.  It  is  very  questiona- 
ble if  the  first  English  expedition  to  theNorth-East  ever 
saw,  much  less  discovered,  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word, 
or  landed  on  the  most  southern  shores  of,  Spitzbergen; 
whose  very  name  attests  its  Dutch  sponsors,  being  de- 
rived from  two  words  in  their  language — "Spitj,"  sig- 
nifying Sharp,  or  Pointed,  and  "Berg,"  Mountain. 

Barents,  however,  made  his  way  to  its  extreme  north- 
cm  point,  through  waters  studded,  in  mid-summer,  with 
fieldrice,  which  his  look-out  reported  from  the  mast- 


head  as  multitudes  of  snowy  swans  ;  an  error  not  un* 
likely  to  have  been  made,  since  our  own  coast  affords, 
in  summer,  opportunities  of  witnessing  acres  upon  acres 
of  white  gulls ;  whose  thousands,  swimming,  can  be 
likened  to  nothing  but  an  ice-field;  and  rising  to  a  vast 
and  dazzling  fleecy  cloud.  This,  the  writer  himself  has 
seen  at  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  noctu^ 

How  much  further  to  the  northward  Bar<nt^  made 
his  way,  the  fog  and  clouded  skies  (forbidding  observ- 
ation) prevented  him  from  ascertaining,  and  posterity 
from  learning  from  his  log  or  journal.  That  he  made 
the  lofty  Hackluyt's  Headland — the  extreme  N.  W. 
extremity  of  the  Spitzbergen  Archipelago,  which  lifts 
its  snow-crowned  and  lichen-clad  eminence  1041  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  we  Jcnow  ;  also,  that  he 
reached  and  discovered  land  in  the  latitude  of  80  de- 
grees 10  minutes,    on  the  17th  of  June,  1596. 

Then,  impressed  with  the  idea  that  a  rocky  barrier 
stretched  onward  to  the  very  Pole,  Barents  headed  to 
the  south  ;  examined  the  coast,  hastily,  as  far  down  as 
latitude  76  degrees,  50  minutes  ;  passed  Cape  Look- 
out, whose  coast  lines,  with  those  of  the  adjacent  land, 
resemble  intimately  the  outline  of  the  tail  and  hind 
parts  of  many  species  of  fish — and  sighted  Bear  Island 
again  on  the  first  of  July.  ,,> 

At  this  juncture,  Barmtj,  who  had  hitherto  deferred 
to  the  wishes  of  Cornells  Hgp,  determined  to  allow 
his  own  experience  and  resolution  to  be  no  longer  em- 
barrassed by  the  views  of  his  associate  :  and,  bidding 
him  adieu,  bore  away  alone,  to  the  E.  S.  E.,  and  made 
Nova  Zembla  at  midday  on  the  seventeenth  of  July, 
observed  in  latitude  76  degrees  16  minutes ;  and 
is  reported  to  have  reached,  at  least,  77  deg.  north, 


32 

in  doubling  Orange  Isle,  which  forms  its  northern  ex- 
tremity. 

Here,  however,  Barents,  it  is  said  by  some,  realized 
the  evils  of  his  late  departure  from  the  Texel ;  while 
others  endorse  the  practice  of  the  Dutch  and  Baltic 
mariners,  who  began,  and  still  begin,  their  northern 
voyages  somewhat  later  in  the  season  than  was  subse- 
quently customary  among  the  English  fleets  destined 
for  Arctic  expeditions,  for  whaling,  sealing,  and  dis- 
covery. 

After  doubling  what  was  then  known  as  Cape  Desire, 
but  now  as  Cape  Zelania,  the  icebergs  presented  them- 
selves in  such  numbers,  and  in  such  close  array,  that 
Bartnt^  became  satisfied  that  if  he  wished  to  escape 
and  seek  a  more  hospitable  climate  for  his  winter  sojourn, 
he  must  mtke  all  sail  to  the  southward,  and  strive  to 
escape  through  the  Vaigatch  Strait.  No  sooner,  how- 
ever, had  he  turned  his  prow,  than  it  seemed  as  if  the 
icebergs  had  been  transformed  by  some  "Wizard  of  the 
North,'  into  pursuing  demons — ^which,  as  is  the  case 
with  other  fell  spirits — ^having  been  hitherto  held  in 
check  by  that  lofty  courage,  with  which  the  Dutch 
mariner  defied  them ;  now,  on  the  first  sign  of  irresolu- 
tion on  his  part — ^mustered  courage,  and  united  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  flying  bark. 

How  often  has  it  been  remarked  that  "truth  is  stran- 
ger than  fiction,"  and  so  it  proved  on  this  occasion;  for, 
fast  as  j^artnt^  flew  before  the  favoring  gal'3s,  still  faster 
flew  the  icy  giants,  which  actually  drove  his  vessel  into 
a  small  haven,  since  known  as  Icy  Port,  in  northern 
latitude  72  degrees  and  eastern  longitude  70  degrees, 
and  there  blockaded  him.  His  dreadful  suflerings 
would  occupy  too  large  a  space  for  this  occasion,  were 


an,  were 


33 

we  to  attempt  to  give  them  in  detail ;  suflBcient  be  it  to 
quote  the  remarks  of  an  old  author  in  regard  thereto : 

"To  attempt  any  description  of  their  proceedings, 
their  observations,  or  their  afflictions,  during  this  severe 
trial,  would,  within  the  limit  of  a  few  lines, — to  which 
it  is  my  wish  to  confine  my  remarks  in  this  place, — but 
spoil  a  most  interesting  and  affecting  narrative."  "The 
journal  of  the  proceedings  of  these  poor  people,"  as  Mr. 
Barrow  beautifully  observes,  "during  their  cold,  comfort- 
less, dark,  and  dreadful  winter,  is  intensely  and  painful- 
ly interesting.  No  murmuring  escapes  them  in  their 
mo3t  hopeless  and  afflicted  situation ;  but  such  a  spirit 
of  true  piety,  and  a  tone  of  such  mild  and  subdued  re- 
signation to  Divine  Providence,  breathe  through  the 
whole  narrative,  that  it  is  impossible  to  peruse  the  sim- 
ple tale  of  their  sojournings,  and  contemplate  their  for- 
lorn situation,  without  the  deepest  emotion." 

Thus,  "cabined,  cribbed,  and  confined,"  we  discover 
other  parallels,  as  interesting  and  remarkable,  between 
the  incidents  of  Bavtntfs  log,  in  1596,  and  McClure's, 
in  1850-'l.  Let  us  examine  two  incidents,  which  seem  to 
be,  in  the  language  of  the  latter,  a  mere  echo  of  the 
records  of  the  former. 

No  sooner  was  the  Hollandish  bark  within  the  jaws 
of  that  harbor,  which  they  deemed  a  place  of  security, 
than  the  pursuing  ice  closed  up  the  entrance,  and  even 
followed  them  within  it,  and  lifting  up  the  one  end  of  the 
beleagured  vessel,  threw  it  into  an  almost  perpendicular 
position,  with  the  other  extremity  nearly  touching  the 
bottom,  so  that  it  was  partially  submerged.  From  this 
critical  and  extraordinary  attitude,  they  were  proA'^den- 
tially  rescued,  the  very  next  day  after  it  occurred,  by 
changes  in  the  ice-fields,  brought  about  by  the  influx  of 

6 


/ 


34 

fresh  masses,  driven  in  by  the  pressure  of  the  outer 
bergs,  which  soon  formed  a  complete  encompassing 
bulwark ;  and  precluded  all  hope  of  ever  being  able  to 
rescue  the  vessel,  even  if  the  crew  should  survive  to 
the  ensuing  spring.  Gradually,  by  jamming  in  of  suc- 
cessive cakes  of  ice,  over  or  under  the  original  field, 
first  one  side  and  then  the  other  of  the  vessel  was  raised 
by  the  insertion  of  these  ice  wedges  beneath  the  bilge ; 
until,  first  canting  to  port,  and  then  to  starboard, 
the  groaning  and  quivering  ship  was  raised  to  the  top 
of  the  constantly -increasing  ice-elevation,  as  if  by  the 
scientific  application  of  machinery.  While,  thus,  their 
minds  were  agitated  by  the  ever-present  dread  of  the 
instant  and  complete  destruction  of  their  frail  bark, 
the  noises  of  the  ice  without,  not  only  that  immedi- 
ately around  them,  but  throughout  the  harbor  and  upon 
the  adjacent  shores,  together  with  the  thundering  crashes 
of  the  icebergs — hurled  against  each  other  by  wind  and 
tide,  mutually  crushing  their  mighty  masses,  or  toppling 
them  over  with  a  din,  as  if  whole  mounUins  of  marble 
had  been  blown  up  by  some  internal  explosive  force — 
almost  deprived  them  of  hearing — likewise  the  crack- 
ing and  groaning  within  of  the  ship  itself,  was  so  dread- 
ful— although  merely  arising  from  the  freezing  of  the 
juices  of  the  timber  and  liquids  in  the  hold — ^that  the 
crew  were  terrified,  lest  their  ship  should  fall  in  pieces, 
with  every  throe,  which  seemed  to  rack  it  from  deck  to 
kelson. 

Thus  far  Barcntj.  What  now  of  McClure  ?  "These 
preparations"  for  wintering — where  the  winter  (1850-'l) 
overtook  them,  only  thirty  miles  from  Barrow  Strait, 
where  four  days  more — four  days,  denied  their  prayers 
and  hopes — ^would  have  solved  the  problem  of  a  Nortli- 


35 

West  Passage — "were  made  under  circumstances  that 
might  shake  the  nerves  of  a  strong  man." — "As  the  ice 
surged,  the  ship  was  thrown  violently  from  side  to  side, 
now  lifted  out  of  the  water,  now  plunged  into  a  hole." 
— "The  crashing,  creaking  and  straining,"  says  Captain 
McClure,  in  his  log,  "is  beyond  description  ;  the  oflBcer 
of  the  watch,  when  speaking  to  me,  is  obliged  to  put  his 
mouth  close  to  my  ear,  on  account  of  the  deafening  noise." 
Both  of  these  statements,  however  startling,  are  cor- 
roberated  by  the  recent  narrative  of  Dr.  Kane.  After 
that  tremendous  gale,  "a  perfect  hurricane,"  which  burst 
upon  him  on  the  20th  of  August,  1852,  battling  whose 
fury  he  parted  his  three  most  reliable  cables,lost  his  best 
bower  anchor,  and  finally  was  wildly  dragged  along  by 
"a  low  water- washed  berg,"  which  he  figuratively  styles 
"our  noble  tow-horse,  whiter  than  the  pale  horse  that 
seemed  to  be  pursuing  us,"  his  brigantine  experienced 
the  same  fearful  "nippings,"  and  the  same  gradual  but 
rough  uplifting,  which  have  been  already  described  in 
connection  with  the  "vlie  boat"  of  Bartnt^,  and  propel- 
ler of  McClure.  The  language  of  Kane's  Journal  is  so 
beautiful  and  appropriate  that  to  do  the  scene  full  jus- 
tice it  must  be  quoted  entire ;  and  whoever  will  pause 
to  contemplate  the  position  of  the  mariner  of  Amster- 
dam and  that  of  our  own  country's  Arctic  hero,  will 
be  struck,  if  not  astonished  at  the  close  resemblance  of 
their  situations,  although  at  epochs  centuries  apart, — 
a  resemblance  heightened  by  the  similarity  of  their 
vessels  and  crews,  both  as  to  burthen  and  number, — a 
parallel  more  perfect  than  that  presented  by  any  other 
recent  polar  expedition.  Under  the  lee  of  a  lofty  cape 
and  an  anchored  ice-berg,  the  staunch  little  "Advance" 
brought  up  at  last  in  comparative  safety. 


36 

"Now,"  says  the  Dr.,  "began  the  nippings.  The  first 
shock  took  us  on  our  port-quarter ;  the  brig  bearing  it 
well,  and,  after  a  moment  of  the  old-fashioned  suspense, 
rising  by  jerks  handsomely.  The  next  was  from  a 
veteran  floe,  tongued  and  honey-combed,  but  floating 
in  a  single  table  over  twenty  feet  in  thickness.  Of 
course  no  wood  or  iron  could  stand  this ;  but  the  shore- 
ward face  of  our  iceberg  happened  to  present  an  in- 
clined plane,  descending  deep  into  the  water ;  and  up 
this  the  brig  was  driven,  as  if  some  great  steam  screw 
power  was  forcing  her  into  a  dry-dock."    *    *    * 

"As  our  brig,  borne  on  by  the  ice,  commenced  her 
ascent  of  the  berg,  the  suspense  was  oppressive.  The 
immense  blocks  piled  against  her,  range  upon  range, 
pressing  themselves  under  her  keel  and  throwing  her 
over  upon  her  side,  till,  urged  by  the  successive  accu- 
mulations, she  rose  slowly  and  as  if  with  convulsive 
efforts  along  the  sloping  wall.  Still  there  was  no  relax- 
ation of  the  impelling  force.  Shock  after  shock,  jarring 
her  to  her  very  centre,  she  continued  to  mount  steadily 
on  her  precarious  cradle.  But  for  the  groaning  of  her 
timbers  and  the  heavy  sough  of  the  floes,  we  might 
have  heard  a  pin  drop.  And  then,  as  she  settled  down 
into  her  old  position,  quietly  taking  her  place  among 
the  broken  rubbish,  there  was  a  deep  breathing  silence, 
as  though  all  were  waiting  for  some  signal  before  the 
clamor  of  congratulation  and  comment  could  burst  forth." 

In  a  note  (17)  at  the  end  of  Volume  1,  Dr.  Kane 
instances  another  case  of  similar  peril  reported  by  Cap- 
tain Cator,  ofH.  B.  M.  steamer  "Intrepid."  "His  ves- 
sel was  carried  bodily  up  the  inclined  face  of  an  iceberg, 
and,  after  being  high  and  dry  out  of  water,  launched 
again  without  injury." 


11 

Barmt^  was  now  completely  enclosed  within — to  him 
— impermeable  walls  of  ice ;  and  there,  in  a  hastily 
constructed  hut,  short  of  provisions,  fuel,  every  thing 
which  could  make  their  existence  hopeful,  an  Arctic 
winter  and  a  Polar  night  closed  in  with  all  their 
horrors  upon  that  feeble  company.  In  the  last  days 
of  August,  1696,  their  dungeon  shut  upon  them.  On 
the  4th  of  November,  no  sun  uprose  again  to  cheer 
them ;  and  three  long,  dreary  months  elapsed  before 
his  returning  rays,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1597,  glad- 
dened the  hearts  of  the  survivors.  .> 

"In  all  the  relations  of  this  voyage,  we  meet  with  an 
mstance  of  the  extraordinary  elasticity  of  spirit,  and 
of  the  predilection  for  their  national  customs,  peculiar 
to  the  Dutch  people"  ;  which  it  would  be  an  injustice 
to  them  to  omit. 

The  fifth  of  January,  the  eve  of  the  Festival  of  the 
Three  Kings,  is  one  of  those  periodical  seasons  conse- 
crated by  the  Hollanders  to  amusement  and  exemption 
from  labor.  In  the  very  midst  of  their  suflferings,  from 
the  extraordinary  degree  of  cold — for  the  cold  of  the 
winter  of  1596-7,  was  one  of  the  most  terrible  on  re- 
cord— they  earnestly  besought  their  Commander  to 
permit  them  to  celebrate  that  great  Dutch  Festival ; 
"philosophically  observing  that  because  they  expected 
so  many  sad  days,  was  no  valid  reason  why  they  should 
not  enjoy  one  merry  one."  Permission  being  granted, 
they  chose  the  Chief  Boatswain,  or  Gunner — for  books 
disagree  as  to  the  individual — as  their  King  ;  a  poten- 
tate with  like  authority  and  functions  with  the  Lord  of 
Misrule  in  the  old  English  Christmas  revels.  The  little 
wine  which  they  had  saved  was  now  exhausted  in  pygmy 
bumpers,  to  the  health  of  the  new  Sovereign  of  Nova- 


38 

Zembla  ;  and  with  their  only  remaining  two  pounds  of 
flour,  they  fried  in  oil  and  tossed  the  pancake — "de 
rigueur,"  on  such  occasions — with  the  prescribed  cer- 
emonies ;  and  startled  the  multitude  of  bears,  prowling 
day  and  night  about  their  hut,  and  made  the  dreary 
realms  of  the  dread  ice-king  re-echo  for  the  first  time 
with  the  sound  of  human  jollity  and  happiness.  One 
chronicle  even  ventures  to  assert  that  the  evening  pass- 
ed as  merrily  as  if  they  had  been  at  home,  around  their 
own  native  tile-cased  kagct)el  or  huge  stoves,  in  that 
dear  Fatherland,  so  fondly  cherished,  which  th  jy  brave- 
ly hoped  they  would  yet  revisit — ^hoping  against  what 
seemed  almost  desperate  hope ! 

Blockaded  by  the  ice,  beset  by  bears,  whose  growls 
and  hungry  cries,  both  at  the  door  and  chimney-top, 
seemed  fiend-like,  amid  the  howling  of  the  Arctic  gale, 
the  calm,  religious  faith,  and  innate  resolution  of  that 
glorious  Hollander,  the  fearless  iDUUam  Barcntj,  seemed 
to  bum  brighter  and  more  cheering  with  every  fresh 
accession  of  calamity.  On  the  eleventh  of  the  ensuing 
June,  engaged  in  constant  combats  with  the  bears,  the 
survivors,  fourteen  in  number,  who  had  buried  three 
comrades  in  the  ice,  dug  out  their  boats  from  beneath 
the  superincumbent  snow,  cut  a  way  through  the  vast 
piles  of  ice  which  resembled  the  houses  of  a  great  city, 
interspersed,  as  it  were,  with  towers,  chimneys,  lofty 
gables,  and  aspiring  steeples  ;  and,  on  the  fourteenth, 
launched  their  two  frail  boats,and  set  sail,running  before 
a  westerly  breeze.  By  the  seventeenth,  they  had  pass- 
ed the  Cape  of  Isles,  Cape  Desire,  the  Orange  Islands ; 
and,  working  their  way  through  the  besetting  ice,  found 
themselves  once  more  off  the  Icy  Cape,  in  the  latitude 
of  about  68  degrees  north,  and  about  two  degrees  west 


liu 


of  Cape  Desire.  On  the  following  day  the  boats  were 
again  involved  in  ice,  and  so  beset  and  crushed  that 
every  one  took  what  he  deemed  a  last  adieu  of  his  un- 
fortunate comrades. 

Barents — ^broken  down  by  long  and  severe  illness, 
and  the  extraordinary  exertions  he  had  been  called 
upon  to  make — feeling  the  fatal  hour  at  hand,  while  off 
the  Icy  Cape,  desired  to  be  lifted  up,  to  look  once  more 
upon  that  terrible  boundaiy,  which,  to  him,  indeed,  had 
been  the  Ultima  Thule,  both  of  his  labors  and  of  his 
life.  Gazing  upon  it,  long  and  wistfully,  he  seemed  to 
be  taking  his  last  look  of  earth.  Rallying,  however, 
he,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  sick,  was  landed,  on 
the  ensuing  day,  upon  that  shore  he  was  destined  never 
to  leave  again  alive. 

There,  the  severe  illness  of  Claes  Andriz  or 
Adrianson  was  reported  to  the  dying  Ice-Master,  who 
simply  remarked  in  reply,  that  he  himself  was  likewise 
not  fai*  from  his  end ;  intimating  that  they  who  had  en- 
countered such  dangers  together  were  about  to  enter 
the  Port  of  Eternity  in  company.  Still,  conversing  and 
looking  on  a  chart  drawn  by  Gerard  De  Veer,  none 
dreamed  that  he,  so  cheerful  and  undaunted,  could  lie, 
as  it  were,  upon  the  very  threshold  of  his  fate  ;  when 
he  suddenly  and  gently  moved  aside  the  map,  desired 
a  drink  of  water,  and  instantly  expired. 

After  the  death  of  Barents — an  inexpressible  blow 
to  the  survivors,  who  had  relied  upon  his  fearlessness, 
experience  and  attainments  in  navigation,  to  extricate 
them  from  the  manifold  and  terrific  perils  which 
beset  their  further  progress — the  two  boats,  with  their 
crews,  now  reduced  to  thirteen  men,  broken  in  health 
and  spirits,  made  good  their  escape  from  this  dismal 


40 
country ;  and,  after  a  perilous  and  painful  voyage  of 
eleven  hundred  and  forty-three  miles,  arrived  in  safety 
at  Kola,  in  Russian  Lapland :  others  say,  Vardoehuus — 
from  an  hundred  to  an  hundred  and  fifty  miles  further 
west — the  most  northern  fort  and  port  in  Europe,  in 
the  Norwegian  Island  of  Vardoe,  off  Finmark — ^where 
they  met  with  their  consort,  commanded  by  Jan  Cor- 
nelis  Ryp,  which  they  supposed  had  long  since  perished, 
— and,  with  gratitude  unfeigned,  in  the  "Merchants' 
House"  of  that  seaport,  deposited  their  shattered  boats 
as  "a  sign  and  token  of  their  deliverance,"  therein  to 
be  preserved  as  a  simple  but  touching  memorial  of 
their  own  sufferings  and  the  extreme  goodness  of 
God,  as  evinced  in  their  preservation. 

Cornelis,  or  Ryp,  having  joyfully  received  them  on 
board  his  vessel,  set  sail  for  Amsterdam  ;  "where," 
says  Davies,  "they  were  received  as  men  risen  from  the 
dead,  the  failure  in  the  object  of  their  expedition  being 
wholly  forgotten  in  admiration  at  the  surpassing  cour- 
age and  patience  with  which  they  had  endured  their 
sufferings." 

Words  cannot  do  justice  to  the  perseverance,  courage, 
energy,  and  capacity  of  tUilUaiii  Darent^,  or  Bttrcutjeon ; 
and,  be  it  remembered,  that  a  greater  portion  of  the 
southern  coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  which  the  Dutch  left 
unexplored,  at  this  era,  remains  so ;  and  is  so  laid  down 
upon  the  maps  even  of  the  present  day. 

His  memory  is  one  of  the  Fatherland's  most  glorious 
possessions ;  and  two  centuries  and  a  half  of  unremit- 
ting enterprise  and  rivalry  have  not  eclipsed  the 
maritime  triumphs  he  achieved  for  Amsterdam,  and 
the  States-General. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  hitherto  no  gi'eat 


41 

national  enterprise  has  accomplished  more  astonishing 
results  in  maritime  discovery,  than  those  "vvhich  have 
rewarded  the  perseverance  and  courage  of  individuals. 
Bavcnt^,  with  his  single  vessel,  surpassed  every  thing 
which  has  since  been  attempted  in  that  quarter ;  in  the 
same  manner  that  Captain  Weddell,  a  private  trader, 
in  a  "frail  bark  of  160  tons,"  fitted  out  for  the  seal 
fishery,  made  more  wonderful  discoveries,  juid  [)eiietra- 
ted  nearer  to  the  colder  and  less  accessible  Antarctic 
Pole,  in  latitude  74  degrees  15  minutes,  in  1823,  than 
jiuy  previous  navigator,  clearing  the  Lrack,  ;ind  paving 
the  way,  as  it  wei'c,  for  subsequent  and  more  elaborate 
attemi)ts.  Oui*  own  galhmt  Dr.  Kani:,  whom  tlie  comi- 
try  may  well  honor,  both  living  and  dead,  with  his 
little  hermaphrodite  brig  of  144  tons,  is  another  re- 
markable instance.  Great  is  their  glory,  immortal 
their  renown !  But,  even  yet,  the  palm  remains  with 
JBorcnt^  ;  for,  to  the  first  in  any  dangerous  expedition, 
belongs,  or  should  belong,  the  maximum  of  credit.  He 
who  leads  the  way  deserves  the  unlading  coronal ;  pro- 
vided he  is  not  too  far  outstripped  by  those  who  avail 
themselves  of  his  experience,  and  follow  in  hia  wake. 
To  lUilltain  Uarcntj,  it  would  seem  to  me,  the  words  of 
Horace  will  apply,  more  justly  than  to  any  otlier  sea- 
man whose  keel  has  ever  ploughed  the  Arctic  Seas,  or 
whose  prow  has  ever  "bored'  the  Polar  Ice  : 

"lUi  robur  et  jes  triplex 

Circa  pectus  erat,  qui  fragilcm  iruci 

Oouimisit  pelago  rrtteui 

Primus," 

"In  Oiik  or  triple  Brass  liis  Heart  was  cas'd,  who  first  to  bellowing  Seas 
entrusted  tlie  frail  Bark." 

How  apposite  the  whole,  particularly  "the  fmil 
bark,"  and  the  term  "bellowing,"  as  applied  to  the 
Polar  Seas  and  their  denizens ! 

0 


42 

However  brave  and  successful  subsequent  explorers 
have  proved  themselves,  his  be  the  laurel  who  the  peril 
first  assayed ;  and  even  as  the  Latin  poet  celebrates  in 
undying  verse  the  resolution  of  the  first  mortal  who 
dared  the  tempestuous  waves,  the  Knickerbocker's 
heart  should  cling  to  Barcntj,  the  Patriarch  of  Arctic 
navigators,  with  scarcely  less  affectionate  remembrance 
than  that  which  Avarms  his  bosom  toward  Kane.  A  three- 
fold cord  should  bind  the  New-Nethcrlander's  sympathies 
to  JBarent^,  whose  corpse,  bedewed  with  manhood's  burn- 
ing tears,  sleeps,  tombed  within  the  Arctic  Circle — his 
trophy,  obelisk  and  sepulchre,  the  undissolving  glacier 
and  the  eternal  iceberg ;  his  dirge,  the  howling  of  the 
polar  bear  and  rearing  of  the  fearless  walrus,  the  thun- 
der-tones of  the  ice  conflict,  and  the  wile  music  of  the 
Arctic  gale,  amid  the  monumental  ice — the  first,  a 
common  origin  ;  the  second,  his  success  ;  the  third, 
his  fate :  a  victor,  to  whose  very  bones  Fortune  deni- 
ed a  fitting  obsequy. 

And  here,  a  short  digression  seems  admissible,  whose 
sombre  interest  must  excuse  a  farther  tax  upon  the 
reader's  time  and  patience.  Bttvctitj  and  his  fellow 
Dutchmen  were  not  the  only  Hollanders  who  dared 
aflfront  the  Winter  King  by  trespassing  upon  his  frigid 
realm,  and  wintering  amid  the  polar  ice,  two  centuries 
jind  a  quarter  since.  Dutch  sailors  were  the  first  hu- 
man beings  who  ever  volimtarily  passed  a  winter 
on  the  ii  hospitable,  ice-bound  shores  of  Spitzbergen. 
The  forlorn  hope  consisted  of  seven  volunteers  from 
the  Dutch  fleet,  in  1633,  all  of  whom  were  restored  to 
their  country  in  safety.  This  was  a  regular  attempt  to 
establish  a  settlement.  The  following  year — 1G34 — a 
second  party  of  seven  voluntarily  assumed   the  place 


43 

of  their  fortunate  predecessors,  all  of  whom  perished. 
Thus  terminated  all  hopes  of  colonizing  this  northern 
region  with  success.  The  bodies  of  •  the  last  seven 
were  found  twenty  years  afterwards,  in  a  perfect  state 
of  preservation — three  enclosed  in  rude  coffins,  two 
in  their  beds,  and  two  on  the  floor,  "not  having  suffered 
the  slightest  degree  of  putrefaction." 

Again :  In  addition  to  the  honor  of  its  discovery, 
the  Dutch  likewise  attempted  to  colonize  Jan-Mayen 
Island,  latitude  70  deg.  29  minutes  north,  longitude 
7  deg.  31  minutes  west,  whose  lofty  peak,  Beerenberg, 
6,870  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  was  seen,  ninety- 
live  to  one  hundred  miles,  from  the  deck  of  the  ship 
"Fame" ;  while  a  volcano,  the  Esk — named  after  the  Esk 
whaler,  of  Whitby,  whose  master,  William  Scoresby, 
Junior,  was  the  first  to  explore  its  desolation, — is  occa- 
sionally active,  and  enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  the 
most  northern  burning  mountain  ever  witnessed  in 
eruption.  Seven  Dutch  seamen  are,  without  doubt, 
the  only  human  beings  who  ever  wintered  on  this 
island.  They  were  volunteers  from  the  Dutch  Whale 
Fishing  Fleet,  whose  fearlessness  the  "Greenland  Com- 
pany" availed  themselves  of,  to  make  a  most  dangerous 
but  interesting  experiment  in  colonization.  It  is  con- 
ceded that  the  journal  of  these  mariners  furnishes  a 
better  account,  both  of  the  wind  and  weather,  from 
the  26th  August,  1633,  to  the  1st  May,  1634,  than 
almost  any  published  record  of  observation  made  in  so 
high  a  latitude.  Every  one  of  them  survived  the 
perils  and  severiti*;:  of  the  winter  months,  but  perished 
miserably  from  the  attacks  of  scurvy,  induced  by  their 
inability  to  provide  themselves  with  fresh  provisions. 
The  first  death  occurred  on  the  16t]i  of  April,    and  on 


44 
the  first  of  May  their  journal  terminated.  When  the 
Dutch  fleet  returned,  on  the  fourth  of  June,  they  found 
the  corpses  of  the  seven,  mummified  by  the  frost,  lying 
within  their  huts,  at  once  their  dwellings  and  their 
tombs. 

From  Uartnt^,  and  this  succinct  but  loving  tri- 
bute to  the  Dutch,  within  the  Northern  frigid  zone,  let 
us  resume,  once  more,  a  topic  nearer   home — that  of 

^\}t  DitJiij  in  iHarae. 

Wo,  Americans,  neglecting  both  tlie  surpassing  mag- 
nificence—nay, often  sublimity — and  the  rare  loveliness 
of  various  districts  of  our  own  Continent,  wander  forth 
across  the  seas,  to  seek,  at  great  expense,  and  amid 
physical  and  moral  dangers,  scenery  in  foreign  laftds, 
which  falls  short  of  the  attractions  of  much  we  possess 
at  home.  Thus,  how  few  arc  alive  to  the  glorious  and 
varied  beauty  of  that  zone  of  islands,  which,  commen- 
cing with  the  perfection  of  Casco  Bay,  terminates  with 
the  precipitous,  seal-frequented  shores  of  Grand-Menan, 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy.  Of  all  the  Ar- 
chipelagoes sung  by  the  poet,  described  by  the  historian, 
and  depicted  by  the  painter,  there  is  none  which  can 
exceed,  in  its  union  of  charms,  those  two  hundred  miles 
of  intermingling  land  and  ocean,  where,  lost  in  each 
other's  embrace,  the  sea  seems  in  love  with  the  land, 
and  the  shore  with  the  foam- frosted  waves ! 

At  two  points  of  this  interesting  and  beautiful  coast 
the  Dutch  planted  the  honored  flag  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces ;  and,  at  several  other  points,  they  themselves 
were  located  by  their  English  conquerors ;  who,  desi- 
rous of  availing  themselves  of  their  thrift  and  industry, 
transplanted  them  thither  from  the  shores  of  the  Hud- 


46 

son — (whore  they  had  aheady  .achieved  a  partial  con- 
quest over  Nature,  by  their  energetic  industry,  and  had 
entirely  ['?]  conquered  the  barbarous  instincts  and  enmity 
of  their  savage  neighbors,  by  their  stubborn  integrity 
and  sober  diligence) — to  renew  the  encounter  with  a 
more  inhospitable  climate,  and  more  savage  tribes,  for 
the  benefit  of  a  bigoted  and  unscrupulous  despot ! 

In  compiling  the  present  article,  much  time  and  Inbor 
has  been  expended  in  the  investigation  of  old  records, 
which,  to  their  want  of  interest  and  grace,  added  a 
barrenness  unusual  and  repulsive.  So  that,  after  all, 
the  greater  portion  of  the  facts  embodied  have  been 
derived  from  Sullivan's  History  of  the  District  of  Maine, 
published  in  B*^  ton,  in  1795;  and  Williamson's  History 
of  the  State  of  Maine,  published  at  Hallowell,  in  1839. 
Every  work,  however,  which  promised  farther  or  cor- 
roborating testimony,  and  was  available,  was  eagerly 
sought  and  carefully  examined,  as  far  as  time  and  op- 
portunities permitted.  In  all  these  investigations, 
nothing  appears  in  any  of  the  works  consulted,  with 
regard  to  the  Commission  issued  to  (ilonulis  Stecniu^ick, 
as  Governor  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Acadie,  given  by  the 
Directors  of  the  Privileged  General  West  India  Compa- 
ny of  the  United  Netherlands,  at  Amsterdam,  on  the 
27th  of  October,  167G  ;  or,  of  their  Ordinance,  dated 
the  eleventh  of  September,  of  that  year, — presented  at 
the  November  meeting  of  the  New  York  Historical  So- 
ciety. Still,  there  is  scarcely  any  question,  but  that  the 
frigate  'Tlying  Horse,"  commanded  by  Capt.  Jijrriaen 
AEiiNOUTS,fromCuracoa,Avas  the  one  whose  crew  captured 
the  Fort  Pentagoet,  or  PemtegCvv-ett — the  name  origin- 
ally given  by  the  French  to  the  Penobscot — in  the  very 
year  mentioned  in  the  Ordinance. 


46 

Although  the  Commission  to  SitctnuJijlk,  granted  by 
the  General  West  India  Company,  is  too  long  to  insert 
in  this  conneetion,  its  examination  will  repay  the  read- 
er, inasmuch  as  it  wiU  remove  all  doubts  as  to  the  reality 
of  the  conquest  effected  by  the  Dutch,  which  could  not 
be  considered  a  mere  temporary  occupation,  since  it  was 
still  looked  upon  as  an  unquestioned  possession  after 
the  lapse  of  two  years.  In  fact,  it  must  have  been  a 
conquest  as  entire  as  their  recapture  of  New  Amster- 
dam, or  New  York,  about  the  same  time  (1673-4), 
when,  even  yet,  the  tricolor  of  Holland  floated  glori- 
ously over  every  sea,  and  only  seven  years  before 
(1667)  had  displayed  its  folds  almost  within  sight  of 
the  startled  population  of  London,  while  the  hoarse  re- 
sonance of  the  Dutchmen's  cannonade  sounded  a  grim 
accompaniment  to  the  glare  of  England's  burning  fleet 
and  naval  preparation. 

It  is  by  no  means  surprising  that  the  English  were 
able  to  render  nugatory  all  the  efforts  of  the  Dutch  in 
this  quarter,  for  the  vicinity  of  their  settlements  and 
the  advances  which  they  had  made  in  population,  ex- 
erted the  same  influence  with  regard  to  a  conflict  Avith 
the  Dutch,  as  that  which  rendered  the  subjugation  of 
the  Thirteen  Colonics  impossible  to  the  whole  power 
of  Great  Britain.  The  chief  difficulty  which  the  Hol- 
landers had  to  overcome,  was  the  distance  v/hich  they 
had  to  transport  their  '•'■personnel  and  materiel,^''  to  con- 
test and  retain  possession  of  a  country  to  which  both 
French  and  English  laid  claim,  and  had  partially  occu- 
pied ;  to  the  East  and  North  of  which  the  former  had 
already  established  themselves  firmly,  and  to  the  West 
and  South- West  the  latter ;  while  another  formidable 
obstacle  existed  in  its  very  midst,  in   the  presence  of 


47 
the   Indian  tribes,  strongly  attached   to   their  Roman 
Catholic  allies,  both  by  the  notent  bonds  of  religion 
and  interest. 

Almost   midway   between  the  mouth   of  the  lovely 
Kennebcek,   and   of  that  main   artery  of  ihc  lumber- 
trade,  the  Penobscot,  on    the  line  of  Lincoln  and  Han- 
cock counties,  the  ocean  forms  a  deep  and  spacious — 
appropriately  styled — Broad   Bay  ;  which   is   so  laid 
down  on  ancient  maps,  and  is  now  known  as  Muscongus 
Bay ;  embraced  between  Pleasant  Point   on    the   east, 
a;d  Peminaquid  Point  on  the  west.     At   the  head  wa- 
ters of  this  Bay,  once  known  as  Broad  Cove,    as   early 
as  1632  (V)  the  Dutch  landed  and  made  a  settlement; 
of  which   many  interesting  vestiges  are   still  in  exist- 
ence ;  and,  it  is  said,  that   to   this   day,  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage is  perpetuated  in  the  township  of  Bremen,  lying 
on  the  west  side  of  Broad   or  Muscongus  Bay  ;  main- 
tained by  the  constant  accession   of  German    settlers, 
invited  thither  by  the  sympathetic  kindi'ed  ties  of  speech 
and  lineage.     At  this  time,  or  subsequently — although 
it  is  generally  supposed  that  it  w.as  much  later,  towards 
the  end  of  the  XVI Ith  century,  1665  or  1680—'  utch 
families  settled  on  several  of  the  adjacent  streams.     At 
all  events,  at  Woodbridge-Neck,  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
th'3  Sheepseot  River,  a  mile  above  Wiscasset  Point,    or 
Village,  there  are  appearances  of  a  very  ancient  (DutchV) 
settlement,  where  the  cavities  of  many  cellars  are  ik)w 
manifest ;  though  there  are  trees  in  some  of  them  of  a 
large  size.     At  the  moment  this  is  prepared,  it  is  but 
honest  to  state  that  the  authority  is  forgotten  on  which 
the  date  of  1632  is  based  for  the  tirst  Dutch  settlement 
in  Maine ;  but  whether  it  was  earlier  or  later,  Sullivan, 
who  is  often  quoted,  and  apparently  regarded  as  excel. 


48 

lent  authority  by  Hubsoqiieiit  writers,  julinits  that  in  the 
year  1042,  the  (Colonies  of  Massachusetts,  New  Plym- 
outli,  Uluule  Island,  and  Coiniecticut,  formed  a  (-on 
^ress  of  Commissioners,  "for  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
f»uarding-  themselves  jigainst  the  Dutch,  who  had  taken 
possession  of  the  Territory  on  the  south  of  them." 

Jt  is  reasonable  to  su[)i)ose  that  these  Colonies  were 
aroused  to  more  decided  measures,  by  the  api)earancc 
of  such  sturdy  enenn'es  on  the  ncu'th  likewise;  and  the 
actujd  establishment  of  a  settlement  in  that  ({uarter. 
Their  fears  could  not  have  been  excited  anew  by  any 
movements  towards  the  south  and  east;  inasmuch  as 
the  Dutch  had  been  already  located  along"  the  Hudson 
for  upwards  of  thirty  years ;  and  on  the  Connecticut  for 
the  last  eleven.  This  o[)inion  seems  aLso  justified  by 
the  subse([uent  language  of  the  same  historian  :  "When 
tile  Dutch  and  French  had  he/ore  been  in  possession  of 
Acadie,  the  people  of  the  English  Colonies  were  very 
uneasy  at  being  destitute  of  the  protection  of  the 
parent  state ;  but  their  being  Puritans,  effectually  pre- 
vented their  having  any  assistance  from  the  other  side 
of  the  water.  In  the  year  1635,  the  Plantations  in  New 
England  appointed  Edward  Winslow  as  an  agent  to 
represent  to  his  Majesty,  that  his  territories  were  en- 
croached upon  by  the  French  and  Dutch,  and  to  pray 
that  his  Majesty  would  cither  procure  peace  with  those 
nations,  or  give  authority  to  the  English  Colonies  to  act 
in  their  own  defence." 

What  the  force  of  the  military  quotas,  to  be  furnished 
by  the  different  colonies,  amounted  to  in  1635,  d^-s 
not  appear  in  this  connection ;  but  in  May,  1672,  ohe 
union  of  the  three  Colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth 
and  Connecticut,  was  renewed  by  Commissioners,  and 


49 

ratified  by  the  general  Court  at  Boston.  By  that  en- 
gagement, the  proportion  of  men  for  any  general  ser- 
vice was  settled  for  the  fifteen  years  next  ensuing, 
whereby  Massachusetts  was  to  furnish  one  hundred, 
Plymouth  thirty,  and  Connecticut  sixty  men. 

There  seems  to  be  little  or  no  doubt  but  that  Broad 
Bay  was  the  first  point  conquered  or  occupied  by  the 
Dutch  ;  the  second,  and  certain  scene  of  their  gallantry 
and  enterprise,  Castine.  This  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able points  all  along  our  Coasts ;  which,  under  any  other 
government  than  our  own,  would  have  long  since  been 
transformed  into  a  naval  and  military  fortress  of  the 
first  class.  The  Peninsula  of  Castine,  originally  known 
to  the  Europeans  as  Bagaduce-point,  or  neck,  but  by 
the  Indians  styled  Ma-je-big-wa-do-sook — twenty  miles 
from  the  outermost  island  in  Penobscot-Bay, — lies  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  that  name, 
"which  river  was  the  ancient  seat  of  Acadie,"  directly 
opposite  to  the  flourishing  Port  of  Belfast.  It  consti- 
tutes one  of  the  most  prominent  objects  in  that  panorama 
of  Penobscot-Bay,  whose  beauty,  when  flooded  with  sun- 
light, will  rank  with  many  of  the  most  celebrated  coast- 
views  of  the  Old  World.  To  one  unacquainted  with  its 
history,  almost  every  vestige  of  its  military  occupation 
has  disappeared,  although  a  soldier's  eye  would  readily 
detect  their  existence. 

Near  the  water,  at  the  extreme  point,  are  the  remains 
of  an  old  American  Fort ;  blown  up  by  the  English 
when  they  relinquished  it.  This  appears  to  have  been 
simply  a  half-moon  battery,  with  a  brick  revetment, 
resting  upon  a  stone  foundation  without  a  ditch.  Piles 
of  brick  in  the  rear  of  this  work,  indicate,  perhaps,  the 

location  of  furnaces  for  heating  shot ;  while  at  this  time 

7 


a  single  rusty  iron-p^nn,  lyinj?  on  the  top  of  the  parapet, 
is  nil  that  remains  ol'  its  annamont.  Upon  the  summit 
of  the  hill,  in  the  rear  of  this,  the  English  who  occupied 
this  point  throughout  the  Revolutionary  and  the  last 
wai-s,  and  who  had  no  idea  of  relinquishing  a  position 
MO  important,  in  every  point  of  view,  constnicted  a  large 
bastioned  fort,  or  field-work,  now  grass-grown,  and  un- 
dergoing gradual  demolition  by  the  action  of  the  ele- 
ments. They  likewise  cut  a  deep  ditch  or  canal  through 
the  narrow  neck  beyond ;  and  thus  rendered  the  penin- 
snlaan  island,  more  susceptible  of  defence  ;  whose  natu- 
ral capabilities  are  such  that  it  might  easily  be  rendered 
a  place  of  immense  strength.  The  village  itself  is  neat, 
pretty  and  attractive ;  seated  upon  a  spacious  and  ex- 
cellent harbor ;  accessible  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and 
possessing  suflficient  depth  for  ships  of  the  very  largest 
class. 

In  1626,  or  1627,  the  Colony  of  New  Plymouth,  set- 
tled on  this  Peninsula,  then,  as  was  stated  above,  called 
Bagaduce-point,  or  neck,  and  built  a  fort,  whose  ruins, 
or  rather  some  faint  appearances  of  such  a  defensilje 
work,  are  known  hy  the  name  of  Casteen's  (Castine's) 
fort. 

In  1635,  Rosillan,  a  Frenchman,  from  Nova  Scotia, 
captured  the  trading  house  and  fortified  position,  having 
three  years' previous,  in  1632,  by  a  stratagem  robbed 
the  garrison. 

From  1635  to  1654,  the  country  between  the  Penob- 
scot and  St.  Croix  was  in  the  possession  of  the  French ; 
although  in  1653,  Major  Sedgwick,  commanding  an 
expedition  sent  out  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  ostensibly 
against  the  Dutch,  who  had  settled  on  the  Hudson, 
suddenly  turned  his  course  to  Acadie,  and  removed  the 


M 

French  from  the  Pcnol)8cot.  In  1670,  Charles  II.  hav 
in^  by  the  treaty  of  Breda  ceded  all  Acadie  t<>  the 
French,  they,  thus  and  then,  obtained  a  re-posscHsion  of 
the  ten'itory ;  although  it  is  not  certain  that  they  did 
not  maintain  their  military  occupation  of  the  fort  of 
Mount  Mantsell,  or  St.  Sauveur,  now  Mount  Desert, 
(MonUt- Deserts)  throughout  that  period,  and  even  aa 
late  jw  169G,  when  they  had  lost  all  their  other  posses- 
sions in  this  region. 

The  Dutch,  however,  within  three  years  after,  i.  e. 
1673  or  1674,  expelled  the  French,  and  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  country ;  and  the  people  of  Now 
England  soon  after,  in  turn,  expelled  the  Dutch.  "It  was 
a  very  imprudent  attempt,"  says  the  Puritan  historian,  "in 
the  Dutch  to  take  possession  of  a  country  so  remote 
from  the  Hudson,  where  they  had  fixed  their  Colony." 
He  forgot,  when  he  made  this  remark,  that  they  had 
prosecuted  more  distant  and  dangerous  expediti(ms, 
with  glorious  and  lastingly  beneficial  results. 

Notwithstanding  this  nominal  re-conquest  by  the 
New  Englanders,  the  distresses  of  the  Indian  wars, 
from  1675  to  1692,  rendered  the  country  of  very  little 
consequence,  whether  to  Great  Britain  or  to  Boston ; 
and  scarcely  any  settlements,  for  agricultural  purposes, 
were  attempted  in  the  earlier  yeai'S  of  this  Colony. 

This  settlement  was  nearly  broken  up  in  1676,  and 
entirely  broken  up  in  the  year  1690.  "In  fact  the 
French  were,  with  the  Indians,  in  possession  of  that 
part  of  the  Continent,  until  they  wete  removed,  aft^r 
the  year  1692,  by  Sir  William  Phips,  the  first  Governor 
of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts,  under  the  charter  of 
of  William  and  Mary." 

In  relation  to  the  expedition  of  Major  Sedgwick,  in 


62 

1653,  and  the  Dutch  occupation  of  the  shores  of  the 
Penobscot,  Sullivan  would  lead  any  reader  to  suppose 
that  the  Dutch  held  them  at  this  early  date — 1653 — 
and  thus  must  have  twice^  if  not  thrice — 1653,  1674, 
and  1676 — wrested  their  trading  posts  in  that  quarter 
from  the  French  ;  for,  while  at  page  283,  he  states 
that  the  Cromwellian  Commander  removed  the  French, 
with  whom  the  English  were  at  peace,  from  the  dis- 
trict watered  by  the  great  river  of  Maine ;  at  page 
293,  he  uses  the  following  distinct  and  unmistakable 
language:  "In  Acadie,  there  was  another  territory, 
east  of  the  then  county  of  New  Castle,  which  was  not 
comprehended  within  the  Duke's  (York's)  Province  of 
New  York.  This  was  perhaps  the  ancient  Norumbegua. 
It  extended  from  Pemaquid  to  St.  Croix,  compre- 
hending Mount  Mansell,  or  Mount  Desert,   and    the 

territory  of  Penobscott." 

***** 

"It  was  there,  that  the  people  of  New  Plymouth 
erected  their  trading-house,  in  1627,  which  was  taken 
by  the  French ;  was  afterwards  taken  by  the  Dutch ; 
and  re-taken  by  Sedgwick  under  Cromwell." 

Now,  in  1653,  England,  at  peace  with  France,  was 
engaged  in  a  sharply-contested  war  with  the  United 
Provinces ;  and,  it  can  be  readily  supposed  that  an  ex- 
pedition of  the  former  would  be  more  likely  to  fall 
upon  the  positions  of  an  enemy  than  those  of  a  peace- 
able neighbor.  However,  such  are  the  facts  we  pos- 
sess ;  and  we  caii  only  draw  the  most  reasonable  infer- 
ence they  admit  of.  There — on  the  Penobscot — where 
the  Dutch  have  left  mementoes  of  their  visits — the 
struggle  between  the  French  Huguenot  De  la  Tour, 
and  his  rival,  the  Roman  Catholic  D'Aulnry,  attract- 


/■ 


ranee,  was 


53 
ed  the  attention  of  the  American  Colonies ;  there,  that 
extraordinary  character,  by  some  supposed  to  have 
been  a  Jesuit,  the  Baron  Castine,  taught  the  natives 
the  European  art  of  war ;  and  by  his  own  influence, 
and  that  of  Le  Masse,  a  Roman  Catholic  Priest,  as  well 
as  of  the  missionaries  of  that  Church,  in  general,  ren- 
dered the  Penobscot  Indians,  savage  enough  by  nature, 
still  more  pitiless  and  cruel. 

Thus  far,  Sullivan.  In  this  connection,  some  few 
details  present  themselves  in  Williamson's  History : 
"The  Dutch,"  says  he,  "had  manifested  early  and  greajt 
desires  to  share  the  North  American  coast  with  the 
English  and  French."  "The  country  was  open  and  in- 
viting to  various  adventurers.  The  Indian  trade,  mast- 
ing and  fishing,  offered  encouragement  to  enterprise." 
"Commercial  in  their  pursuits,  they — (the  Dutch)— 
knew  how  to  set  an  adequate  value  upon  water-priv- 
ileges; and,  after  their  treaty  with  England,  A.  D.  1674, 
being  still  at  war  with  France,  they  dispatched  an  arm- 
ed ship  to  seize  upon  the  Fort  at  Penobscot.  In  th,e 
capture,  there  was  a  loss  of  men  on  both  &ides.  The 
success  was  not  pursued — the  enterprise  offered  no 
considerable  gains ;  and  the  possession  acquired  was 
not  long  retained." 

Even  without  further  information,  can  there  be  any 
doubt  whatever,  that  the  armed  vessel  referred  to 
above  was  the  "Flying  Horse,"  Avhich,  in  the  commis- 
sion of  the  West  India  Company,  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding portion  of  this  paper,  is  stated  to  have  "con- 
quered and  subdued  the  coasts,  and  countries  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  Acadie  ?" 

In  this  expedition  "was  also  present,  and  assisted 
with  his  advice  and  force,  John  Rhoade,"  who  was  em- 


54 

powered,  by  the  Ordinance,  dated  11th  September, 
1676,  to  take  possession  of  and  colonize,  cultivate  and 
trade  along  the  whole  of  the  adjacent  coast ;  and  which 
invested  him,  in  fact,  with  full  powers,  to  protect  and 
maintain  himself  thereupon. 

Williamson  subsequently  goes  on  to  say :  "Such  was 
the  peculiar  intipathy  generally  entertained  towards 
the  principles  and  manners  of  the  French,  that  any 
seizure  of  their  dominions,  it  might  be  well  supposed, 
would  excite  gratitude,  as  well  as  pleasure,  among  the 
English  Colonists.  Possibly  influenced  by  this  motive, 
certainly  by  a  pei*petual  desire  of  possessing  a  fine  un- 
occupied region,  the  Dutch  again,  in  the  spring  of 
1676,  sent  a  man  of  war  to  Penobscot,  and  captured 
the  French  fortification  there ;  determining  now '  to 
keep  possession  of  the  country.  But,  as  this  was  a  part 
of  New  England,  and  within  the  Duke's  (of  York's) 
Province,  and  as  anticipations  were  entertained  of  its 
returning,  amid  some  future  events,  to  the  English,  or 
their  Colonists,  either  by  purchase,  recession,  or  re- 
conquest,  two  or  three  vessels  were  dispatched  thither 
from  Boston,  which  drove  the  Dutch  from  the  penin- 
sula." ^'To  the  French,  this  must  have  afforded  the  great- 
er satisfaction,  because  the  English  captors  did  not 
tarry,  but  immediately  abandoned  the  place." 

In  connection  with  the  first  of  these  expeditions, 
Hutchinson  furnishes,  as  a  note  to  his  History  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay,  a  manuscript  account  of  a  message 
from  Hartford  to  New  York,  which  gives  the  following 
interesting  incidents : 

"May  28th,  1672,  war  was  proclaimed  against  the 
Dutch  in  Boston,  in  consequence  of  the  King's  declara- 
tion of  wai",  published  in  England.     This  was  the  first 


I? 


&5 

instance  of  any  public  declaration  of  war  in  the  Colony. 
In  the  Dutch  wars,  in  the  time  of  the  Parliament  and 
Cr umwell,  and  in  the  former  war,  after  the  restoration, 
until  forces  came  to  reduce  the  Mahadoes  (Manhattan), 
correspondence  and  commerce  continued  between  the 
Colonies,  notwithstanding  the  war  in  Europe."         ■ ' 

Hn  August,  the  same  year,  1672,  advice  came  to 
Boston,  that  the  Dutch,  after  taking  several  ships,  at 
Virginia,  had  possessed  themselves  of  New  York; 
whilst  Colonel  Lovelac(^,  the  Governor,  was  at  New 
Haven ;  and  that  the  Dutch  force  was  bound  further 
northward.  This  intelligence  caused  a  great  alarm  in 
the  Colony.  The  Castle  having  been  destroyed  not 
long  before,  Boston  was  less  capable  of  defence.  The 
best  preparations  were  made.  The  Dutch  fleet  retuni- 
ed  to  I        e." 

''Th».3  acquisition  was  accidental,  according  to  the 
account  given  by  the  Dutch  at  New  York."  "Four  Hol- 
landers"— sent  to  sea,  by  the  Admiralty  of  Amsterdam, 
under  the  command  of  Commodore  Jacob  Binkes, — 
"and  three  Zealanders" — under  Capt.Corncliiis  O^ocrtocm, 
son  of  the  Vice- Admiral  of  the  same  name,  dispatched 
by  the  States  and  Admiralty  of  Zealand — "met  off  Mar- 
tinico ;  one  side  with  French,  the  other  with  English, 
colors ;  and  prepared  to  fight — until,  by  hoisting  their 
proper  colors,  they  better  understood  one  another. 
They  then  joined  together,  and  agreed  upon  an  expe- 
dition to  Virginia  and  New  York.  The  Dutch  Guinea 
Fleet  was  intended  for  the  same  service ;  but  these 
other  ships  saved  them  the  trouble." 

Besides  their  first  settlement  at  Broad  Bay,  and 
their  conquests  on  the  Penobscott,  Dutcli  Colonies 
were  planted  on  several  points  between  the  Kennebeck 


iffli 

1 

1 

1 

i 

56 
and  Penocscot ;  along  the  important  estuaries,   which, 
penetrating  deeply  into  the  land,  aflforded  such  facilities 
for  intercourse,  when  land-travel  was  almost  interdicted. 

"Settlements,"  says  Sullivan,  "from  the  year  1665, 
were  increased  in  Pemaquid — settled  before  Boston — 
about  thirty  miles  west  of  Penobscot  Bay.  There  were 
a  number  of  people  who  came  down  from  the  Dutch 
settlements  at  the  Manhatoes,  or  New  York.  The 
Duke  of  York  had  the  New  Netherlands,  or  what  is 
now  New  York,  granted  him  in  the  year  1664."  "The 
settlements  increased  until  the  year  1680."  "His  Gov- 
ernor, named  Dungan  (Dongan),  was  over  this  eastern 
grant,  as  well  as  that  on  the  Hudson.  The  Govern- 
ment under  the  Duke  erected  a  Fort  at  Pemaquid, 
near  th^  remains  of  which  is  the  ruin  of  a  town  ;  there 
is  yet,  under  the  rubbish,  a  paved  street,  and  the  cellars 
of  nearly  thirty,  or  perhaps  forty,  houses.  The  lands 
there  were  granted  under  the  Duke  of  York's  title ; 
and  many  Deeds,  made  by  his  Governor,  have  been  ex- 
hibited in  the  contests  in  that  country,  within  thirty 
years  past." 

During  his  administration  and  agency  of  five  years — 
which  terminated  with  the  month  of  March,  1688 — 
particularly  about  the  year  1687,  Dongan,  who  was 
both  Governor  of  the  Province  and  private  agent  of 
the  Duke,  removed  many  Dutch  families  from  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  to  his  [James's]  new  Province, 
on  Sheepscot  River.  They  remained  there,  and  at 
Pemraaquid,  until  the  settlements  were  broken  up  by 
+1)**  war«,  which  were  soon  afterwards  commenced  with 
the  savages.,  But  these  devasuitions  vi  the  French, 
and  their  barbarous  allies,  were  not  the  first  wrongs 
which  the  unfortunate  Dutch  Colonists  had  experienced. 


57 

All  Governor  Dongan's  "measures  in  this  region  were 
rendered  extremely  unpopular,  by  the  cupidity  and 
arbitrary  procedure  of  his  agents,  Palmer,  West,  and 
Graham ;  for  they  placed,  and  displaced,  at  "pleasure" ; 
and  some  of  the  first  settlers  were  denied  grants  of 
their  own  homesteads ;  while  these  men  were  wickedly 
dividing  some  of  the  best  improved  lands  among 
themselves." 

Thus  terminated  in  misfortune  the  last  settlement 
effected  by  the  Dutch  upon  the  coast  of  Maine :  and  I 
should  remark  that  yet  slight  mementoes  of  the  race 
and  language  in  that  region  are  among  the  best 
proofs  of  the  fearless  and  stubborn  perseverance  of 
the  self-reliant  Hollander. 

Here  ends  the  result  of  these  historical  investiga- 
tions, as  to  the  jDDntcl)  in  iHatnr,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  remarks  relative  to  the  opinions  entertained 
by  the  English  towards  the  Dutch.  The  former  appear 
to  have  set  the  highest  value  upon  the  natural  advan- 
tages of  the  regions  now  embraced  within  the  limits 
of  the  state  of  Maine.  According  to  Hutchinson,  r're- 
sident  Danforth  held,  "that  it  were  better  to  expend 
three  thousand  pds.  [sterling]  to  gain  Canada  itself" — 
which  included  Acadie — "than  that  either  the  French 
or  the  Dutch  should  have  it ;  such  is  the  value  of  the 
fishery,  masting,  and  fur  trade."  This  Governor  Dan- 
forth, a  man  of  integrity  and  wisdom,  was  elected  De- 
puty-Governor in  1679,  and  in  the  same  year  first 
President  of  the  Province  of  Maine.  He  held  both 
these  offices  until  the  arrival  of  Governor  Andros,  at 
the  end  of  the  year  1686.  Of  this  Governor  (An- 
dros), it  is  said  that  he  "feared  the  Dutch,"  the 
more  particularly  as  he  supposed  that  "  if  they  again 


58 
seized  upon  the  open  countr^-,  between  the  Penobscot 
and  St.  Croix,  which  wer  )oth  in  his  Commission, 
and  in  the  Duke  of  York'i.  dtent,  they  might,  with 
the  present  temper  of  the  (English)  nation  in  their  fa- 
vor, be  permitted  to  retain  possession  of  it."  We 
must  remember,  that  at  this  date  the  British  nation 
were  looking  to  tUiUiam,  |)nnce  of  ©ranflf,  and  his 
Protestant  subjects,  the  Hollanders,  as  their  only  means 
of  deliverance  from  spiritual  and  political  tyranny. 
The  Dutch,  however,  appear  to  have  been  the  only 
enemies  whom  the  New  Englanders  really  feared  in  this 
quarter.  This  is  readily  explained.  As  seamen,  the 
Dutch  stood  unrivaled ;  and  this  coast  afforded  not 
only  materials  for  a  navy,  but  various  sources  of  wealth 
to  a  commercial  people  ;  moreover,  the  French  never 
appear  to  have  succeeded  as  Colonists,  while  the  Dutch 
seem  to  have  scarcely  ever  met  with  failure. 

On  the  sea,  the  British  encountered  an  equal  foe  in 
the  Hollander.  With  the  Frenchman,  on  that  element, 
not  his  own,  every  engagement  insured  an  almost  cer- 
tain and  glorious  triumph.  Hence,  the  commercial 
enterprise  of  the  former,  and  their  skill  and  bravery 
in  action,  aroused  the  latent  spirit  which  has  marked 
the  rivalry  which  time  and  circumstances  are  lessening ; 
because,  whilst  the  valor  of  the  Dutch  has  suffered  no 
diminution,  their  physical  power  has  decreased.  Like 
causes  produce  like  effects.  The  power  which  of  old 
directed  its  efforts,  and  those  of  the  English  Colonists, 
to  expel  the  Dutch  from  North  America,  has  seen  an- 
other nation  there  arise  to  contend  with  it  for  the  mas- 
tery of  the  seas — having  the  expanding  stature  of  a 
giant,  the  numerous  sinewy  arms  of  Briareus,  and  the 
keen  eyes  of  Argus;  of  which,  if  the  assertion  of  Ovid 


69    . 

be  true,  only  two  of  the  one  hundred  are  asleep  at  a 

time! 

*  *  *  * 

And  so,  for  the  present,  with  an  anecdote  of  a  Dutch- 
man's gallantry  in  New*England,  we  bid  adieu  to  the 

**IDut£l)  in  illainc": 

In  the  reign  of  Qneen  Elizabeth,  a  British  naval  Com- 
mander was  sent  to  cruise  upon  the  coast  of  Spain,  with 
instructions,  however,  to  confine  himself  within  certain 
limits,  under  penalty  of  death  in  case  of  any  trans- 
gression of  his  orders.  Having  received  intelligence 
that  some  Spanish  vessels  lay  at  Vigo,  beyond  the 
bounds  of  his  cruising  ground,  he  resolved  to  proceed 
at  once  to  attack  them,  although  he  periled  his  life  by 
so  doing. 

Fortunately,  a  complete  success  rewarded  his  gallant- 
ry, and  no  doubt  saved  his  life.  On  rejoining  the  Ad- 
miral, to  whose  fleet  his  vessels  belonged,  he  was  imme- 
diately placed  under  arrest,  and  asked  if  he  was  aware 
that  by  the  articles  of  war  he  was  liable  to  be  shot  for 
his  utter  disregard  of  the  orders  issued  for  his  guidance  ? 
His  repl)  is  so  honorable  and  patriotic,  that  it  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  the  author's  name  is  not  recorded  : 
"I  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  penalty  incurred,"  said 
he,  "but  I  felt  that  the  man  who  is  afraid  to  risk  his 
life  in  any  way^  when  the  good  of  his  country  re- 
quires it,  is  unworthy  of  a  command  in  her  Majesty's 
service." 

This  officer  had  several  of  the  strongest  incentives 
to  influence  his  course  of  action :  not  only  the  hope  of 
personal  distinction  and  glory,  but  national  pride  and 
intense  hatred  of  the  enemy.  Still,  none  of  these  de- 
tract from  his  credit. — But  Hutchinson,  in  his  History, 


60 

records  a  much  more  remarkable  parallel  case,  where 
gallantry,  and  a  mere  sense  of  duty,  induced  a  Dutch 
sailor  to  run  an  equal  risk,  with  a  much  greater  cer- 
tainty of  suffering  the  penalty.  And  if  the  ships  of 
the  United  Provinces  were  manned  with  men  cast  in 
such  a  mould,  and  animated  with  such  a  spirit,  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  that,  with  this  and  no  doubt  other 
similar  examples  before  them,  the  jealous  fear  which 
the  English  felt  towards  the  Dutch,  as  to  a  naval  and 
commercial  people,  should  have  extended  to  New 
England,  and  rendered  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  exceeding- 
ly uneasy  at  every  appearance  of  a  Dutch  frigate  or 
squadron  upon  their  own  or  the  neighboring  coast. 
It  is  in  this  connection,  that  the  following  anecdote 
does  not  seem  inappropriate  to  the  subject :  , 

It  appears  from  a  letter  dispatched  from  Massachu- 
setts Bay  to  London,  in  J  6 75,  that  one  (Eornelis — a 
Dutchman — ^who  had  been  captured  and  sentenced  to 
death  for  some  offence  against  the  real  or  imaginary 
maritime  riglits  of  that  Colony,  was  pardoned  on  con- 
dition of  enlisting  in  the  forces  destined  to  act  against 
the  celebrated  Indian  King,  Philip,  who  had,  in  the 
very  year  above  mentioned,  commenced  that  terrible 
war  which  desolated  the  settlements  in  New  England. 
On  one  occasion,  Cornells  pursued  the  celebrated  Sa- 
chem, and  pressed  him  so  hard,  that  he  obtained  pos- 
session of  his  cap  or  head-dress,  and  afterwards  wore 
the  trophy  himself  The  Commandant  of  the  Provin- 
cial troops,  finding  him  so  brave  a  man,  promoted  and 
sent  him  on  a  certain  occasion  at  the  head  of  twelve 
men,  "to  scout,"  with  orders,  for  some  particular  rea- 
son not  stated,  to  return  within  three  hours,  on  pain 
of  death  in  case  of  disobedience.     While  scouring  the 


61 

country,  he  came  suddenly  upon  sixty  Indians,  who  had 
just  landed,  and  were  hauling  up  their  canoes  upon  the 
shore.  Of  these  he  killed  thirteen,  captured  eight,  and 
followed  the  rest  as  far  as  he  could,  until  debarred  far- 
ther pursuit  by  swamps  and  other  natural  obstacles. 
On  his  return  march  he  burned  all  the  canoes  belong- 
ing to  the  routed  party.  This  exploit  occupied  eight 
hours.  On  rejoining  the  main  body,  a  council  of  war 
was  summoned,  and  Cotnelts,  although  it  is  scarcely 
credible,  instead  of  promotion  and  high  reward,  was 
sentenced  to  death  for  breach  of  orders.  Had  he  been 
an  Englishman  instead  of  a  Dutchman,  his  gallantry 
would,  doubtless,  have  been  amply  recompensed  ;  but 
as  it  was,  the  Puritans  held  that  they  acted  justly 
in  pardoning  him  a  second  time.  The  dauntless  Hol- 
lander seems  to  have  been  a  true  son  of  the  Father- 
land (l)attrlanb),  feeling  that 

"The  path  of  Duty 
l8  the  way  to  Glory"  1 

and  a  short  time  afterwards,  having  been   detached  on 

another  scout,  brought  in   twelve  Indians  alive   and 

two  scalps. 

*  *  *  # 

Although  the  theme  selected  for  this  evening  might 
here  be  drawn  to  a  close,  it  is  difficult  to  lay  aside  the 
pen,  with  the  enterprise  and  resolution  of  the  Holland- 
ers so  vividly  impressed  upon  the  mind,  by  the  exam- 
ination of  the  records  of  their  voyages,  of  their  dis- 
coveries, and  of  their  triumphs.  The  influence  of  the 
Dutch  upon  the  progress  of  the  Middle  States,  has 
never  been  sufficiently  considered  in  any  history  of  that 
region,  which  embraces  the  "Empire"  and  ''Key-Stone" 
States,  whose  possession  by  the  British  and   emancipa- 


• 


62 
tion  by  the  Patriot  armies  of  the  Revolution,  decided 
the  fate  of  that  contest  which  made  us  what  we  are. 
Without  solidity  of  character,  no  bulwark,  however 
wisely  planned,  and  theoretically  constructed,  can  re- 
sist the  assaults  of  corruption,  or  the  gradual  aggix'ss- 
ions  of  time.  A  bulwark  deficient  in  the  main  princi- 
ple— solidity — resembles  the  painted  screens  set  up  by 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  in  the  hope  of  imposing 
upon  an  enemy,  by  such  fictitious  representations  of 
fortresses  and  entrenchments.  The  solidity  of  charac- 
ter which  distinguishes  the  population  of  the  "Empire 
State,"  is  due,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the  Dutch  element- 
ary ingredient,  which  met  and  repulsed  the  encroach- 
ments of  French  ambition.  No  province  furnished 
troops  throughout  the  long  wars  with  France  and  the 
Mother  Country,  so  susceptible  of  discipline,  so  patient 
of  fatigue,  and  so  determined  in  combat,  as  that  of 
New  York.  The  fiercest  battle  which  characterizes  our 
Revolutionary  history,  the  bloody  struggle  at  Oriskany, 
where  the  opposing  troops  lay  locked  in  the  death  gripe 
with  their  weapons  sheathed  in  each  other's  bosoms — 
was  decided,  in  its  very  centre,  by  the  Dutchmen  of  Mo- 
hawk, as  yet  almost  without  admixture  of  any  other 
leaven. 

That  victory,  which  was  among  the  first — and  in  many 
respects  the  very  first — that  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
European  governments  to  the  reality  of  the  power  of 
the  American  Colonies,  and  the  probability  of  their 
ultimate  success ;  that  victory  which  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  the  Americans,  Burgoyne's  carefully  prepared, 
ably  officered,  and  splendidly  appointed  army,  was  due, 
in  common  with  the  other  gallant  soldiers  there  collect- 
ed, chiefly  to  the  Dutch  troops,  marshalled  by  the  activ- 


63 

ity,  energy,  capacity  and  patriotism  of  an  Americo-Dutch 
General,  who  had  decided  the  question  by  masterly  dis- 
positions and  dogged  resistance — taking  advantage  of 
natural  obstacles,  and  combining  the  defences  furnished 
by  nature  with  the  stubborn  courage  of  the  people — be- 
fore the  forces  from  other  States  had  concentrated  their 
numbers,  or  an  English  General,  through  the  influence 
of  New  England,  had  assumed  the  command. 

On  the  Oth  of  December,  1828,  the  late  Chancellor 
Kent,  then  President  of  this  Society,  delivered  the  An- 
niversary discourse ;  in  which,  in  clear  and  forcible  lan- 
guage, he  pointed  out  the  distinctive  merits  of  the 
many  eminent  men  who,  in  their  several  spheres,  had 
nobly  sustained  the  well-earned  fame  of  this,  their  native 
State,  by  their  talents,  their  zeal,  and  patriotic  devotion ; 
the  most  conspicuous  of  whom  were  of  Hollandish  de- 
scent. In  a  well  merited  and  animated  eulogium,  he 
bore  testimony  to  the  transcendant  abilities  and  charac- 
teristic virtues  of  that  General,  Philip  Schuyler,  whom 
Gates  superseded,  and  who  fell  a  sacrifice,  according  to 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  to  prejudices — the  influence  of 
which,  as  above  stated,  unhappily  for  himself  and  his 
country,  on  that  occasion  prevailed. 

No  matter  how  strong  the  Dutch  ingredient,  a  greater 
numerical  preponderance  of  the  English  almost  conceals 
its  actual  existence ;  and  this  vast  numerical  aggregate 
of  the  descendants  of  Englishmen,  is  sufficient,  in  itself, 
to  account  for  the  comparatively  small  influence  exhib- 
ited by  those  of  the  Hollanders  in  these  United  States. 
We  say,  comparatively  small ;  yet,  it  is  wonderful,  with 
all  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  to  conceal  and 
decry  the  influence  of  the  Hollandish  blood,  to  find 
to  what  a  degree  it  has  nevertheless  made  itself  felt, 


ti 


64 

and  compelled  unwilling  acknowledgment.  That  very 
fact, — ^its  existence — the  growing  investigation  of  its 
origin,  and  the  development  of  its  forces — ^is  the  proud- 
est monument  which  can  be  reared  to  Hollandish  an- 
cestry. Year  by  year,  justice  has  been,  and  will  be, 
more  and  more  accorded  to  it. 

New  England  enterprise  and  its  results  are  justly  the 
boast  of  New  England  historians,  orators,  politicians, 
and  [divines.  Both  have  been  wonderful — greater,  by 
far,  than  those  of  the  New  Netherlanders.  But  why  V 
Every  honest  investigator  of  history,  while  willing  to 
admit  that  the  New  Netherlanders  have  not  grown  to 
like  stature,  has  likewise  attributed  it  to  the  just  cause 
— the  monopolizing  efforts  of  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company,  whose  jealousy  of  individual  profits  contract- 
ed all  the  operations  of  the  Dutch  settlements  on  this 
Continent.  But  a  New  Netherlander  has  no  need  of 
defence,  when  he  can  carry  the  war  into  Africa,  and 
win  an  historical  and  Christian  Zama  under  the  very 
walls  of  his  opponents'  Carthage.  The  New  Nether- 
lander can  go  forth  to  the  moral  battle — ^leaving  his 
household  treasures  secure  within  the  safeguards,  of 
which  an  honest  purchase  of  the  soil  laid  the  founda- 
tion, and  persevering  thrift  and  stainless  integrity 
built  up  the  towers.  New  Amsterdam  and  its  depend- 
ant towns  and  villages  had  laid  the  corner-stone  of  their 
institutions,  upon  the  principles  of  universal  brother- 
hood and  religious  toleration,  and  built  up  each  suc- 
cessive course  with  that  impermeable  cement  which 
alone  can  bind  the  human  race  together — peace  and 
good  will  towards  men !  Except  during  the  adminis- 
istration  of  one  bad  Governor,  Willem  Kieft,  the  au- 
thorities of  New  Amsterdam  cultivated  the  friendship 


65 

and  co-operation  of  the  Indian  tribes,  with  such  success 
that  the  fierce  Indian  became,  under  their  influence, 
comparatively  amicable ;  admitting  that  the  Hollanders' 
tongue  was  not  yet  "forked,"  like  most  of  the  other 
white  men's  tongues,  with  whom  they  had  been  brought 
in  contact.  Undoubted  historical  facts  attest  the  influ- 
ence exercised  over  the  neighboring  tribes  by  the 
brave  and  honest  Corlaer,  whose  name  the  Indians  held 
so  honorable  that  they  conferred  it  to  the  most  fitting 
title  on  all  the  New  York  Governors ;  a^d  of  that 
stout-hearted,  true,  and  generous  "Quidder" — as  tbj 
Iroquois  pronounced  the  Christian  name  of  |)et'T 
fiiit)nsUr — whose  word  was  law  to  the  celebrated  Fi/e 
Nations.  The  latter's  peaceful  laurels  no  bigoted  and 
prejudiced  historian  can  displace,  even  as  they  were 
torn  from  the  brow  of  his  illustrious  son,  to  crowi.  tiie 
undeserving,  vapid,  and  defeated  opponent  of  tom- 
wollis  at  Camden. 

Again :  How  many  authors,  who  have  devoted  their 
pens  to  the  history  of  our  country,  have  been  seduced 
into  the  error  of  countenancing  the  statement,  that  the 
only  colony  on  this  Continent  which  proclaimed  reli- 
gious toleration,  with  the  first  display  of  its  ensigns, 
was  that  of  Maryland !  This  error  is  worse  than  a  com- 
mon error ;  since  it  is  an  injustice  to  a  f >eople  who,  at 
home  and  abroad,  have  been  ever  tolerant — so  tolerant, 
that  in  Holland  alone,  of  all  other  nations  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  prior  to  the  middle  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury, even  the  Jews  became  fixed  and  patriotic  citi- 
zens. 

When  the  people  of  the  eastern  settlements  were  de- 
priving the  Dutch  of  their  choice  lands  along  the  Con- 
necticut, fugitives  from  thence,  for  opinion's  sake,  had 

9 


u 

]^1sbrtb*d^i;o  N^  Athsteibdara,  where  they  were  received 
with  a  hospitality  only  equalled  by  that  offered  »./  the 
plarent  toantiy  to  the  Protestant  refugees  from  the  tyr- 
anny of  France.  It  was  not  until  New  Amsterdam  had 
become  de  faotd  N^w  Yorlf^  and  the  English  elements 
had  preidominated  over  the  Batavian  and  Knickerbocker, 
that  anything  like  intolerance  was  admitted  into  the 
administration  And  councils  of  the  Colony.  Even  the 
Jesuits  fouhd  in  the  Dutch  not  only  a  sympathetic  and 
tolerant  but  a  practical  Christianity,  which,  more  than 
once,  at  gi^eat  ri^,  interposed  between  them  and  their 
(Raptors,  the  Indians,  in  the  interest  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
settleiwents. 

When  the  at^ed  Charles  IX.,  of  Sweden— Avith  diffi- 
culty maintaining,  by  the  superiority  of  his  sagacity,  as 
well  as  the  force  of  his  arms,  his  rights  and  the  integ- 
rity of  the  Swedish  realm,  against  a  union  of  potent 
and  inimical  neighbors — ^was  gradually  lapsing  into  a 
state  of  physical  debility,  he  felt  his  powers,  as  it  were, 
rejuvenated,  and  the  future  of  his  country  assured,  in 
COhtempMtiiig  the  goodly  promise  of  his  great  son, 
^tikM&  3lilnlttlnW  'i  *^^d>  t^^^s  comforted  and  sustain- 
ed; the  wai*riof-poHtician  sunk  into  his  grave  with  a 
prophetic"^7fe /ac«e<"  on  his  lips  and  in  his  heart. 
Even  so,  men  of  HoUandish  blood  can  afford  to  hope 
and  wait.  The  Anglo-Puritan  history  of  the  New  Neth- 
erianders  has  been  written,  and  ably  written ;  but  that 
of  the  Saxott-I^hickerbocker  remains  to  be  written. 
The  historian  is  yet  to  arise,  who,  rich  in  the  truits  of 
faithful  and  laborious  research,  and  endowed  with 
graphic  power,  commensurate  with  his  subject,  will 
mingle  ^ith  his  theme  the  fidelity  ahd  ardor  of  a  ma- 
tured judgment.     *^Ille  faciei  T — He  will  accomplish 


w 

it!  Meanwhile,  let  us  content  cw^selyes  witji  the 
the  aphorism  of  Montesquieu:  '^Tot  ou  tardy  tout  se  saiC' 
Sooner  or  later,  everything  is  known.  The  good  time 
must  come,  when  truth  will  be  made  manifest]  light 
is  breaking  in  upon  a  people  who  now  ji^dge  for  them- 
selves ;  who  not  only  read  the  books  of  other  natiwsj 
but  publish,  read,  and  multiply  their  pwn.  We  h^,ve 
learned  to  see  with  our  own  eyes,  and  to  fqrm  our  own 
conclusions.  In  this  march  of  mind,  the  gifted  authc^r 
of  "The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Rbpubuc,"  has  nobly 
placed  himself  in  the  van;  and  in  glowing  language 
has  happily  and  truthfully  described  the;  race  which 
chained  the  tyrant  Ocean,  and  his  mighty  streams,  into 
subserviency— a  race,  which  engaged  for  generations 
in  stubborn  conflict  with  the  angry  elements,  was  un^ 
consciously  educating  itself  for  its  great  struggle  with 
a  still  more  savage  despotism,  in  its  successful  and 
immortal  struggle  for  the  rights  of  men  I 

Even  as  with  fabled  brilliancy  and  flashing  rays, 
those  monster  carbuncles,  set  on  high  in  the  front  of  the 
Church  at  Wisby,  which  bears  the  time-honored  name 
of  the  "good  St.  Nicholas,"  once  sei-ved  as  guiding 
stars  to  the  wave-tossed  mariner,  inward  and  outward 
bound,  in  his  perilous  voyage  across  the  angry  deep  ; 
so  the  radiance  which  emanates  from  the  chronicles  of 
the  land  of  Uliliiam  the  Silent,  the  Father  of  Im 
Country  ;  of  iHaurice  the  Warrior,  renowned  in  every 
branch  of  warlike  art  and  science ;  of  tDUl'tam,  England's 
Liberator,  great  in  all  qualities  which  ennoble  man  ;  of 
©£  Uugtcr,  one  of  the  most  perfect — if  not  the  most 
perfect — characters  which  history  record^;  of  JPugr 
Denooorbe;  of  Pe  Eoete ;  of  KlaaB^oon  ;  of  |)t(t  Qesn ; 
of  ©bbarn;    of  JDt  lUitte ;  of  ^r^mp;  of  Jfpsrtstn;  of 


68 

fytmsktxtk ;  of  ^foutman ;  of  Hoel)oorn  ;  of  (&mkt[[ ; 
of  ban  Bot^elaar ;  of  Cijasae ;  of  t)an  $|)sk ;  of  ban 
ircr  3la;  of  BamoDdbt ;  of  SDe  toitt  ;  of  ©rotins;  of 
f  agel ;  of  i$ein0tU0  ;  of  ban  Witmtn  ;  of  Bcntinik  ;  of 
Beoemtiuk;  of  ban  Iftv  CapelUn  ;  of  t)an  be  0pelgel ; 
of  £i£[)tmmel|)enmnck ;  of  ^vasmne  ;  of  3att})aaot ;  of 
(jttsgetts  oan  ;2ti2Ucf)em ;  of  Uusacl) ;  of  Brngmans  ; 
of  ^tmstvcljn^s  ;  of  Katj ;  of  i)onbfl ;  of  Bilberbslt ; 
of  Bronbt ;  of  tDogtnaar ;  and  of  a  host  of  other 
eminently  gifted  warriors,  statesmen  and  scholars, 
will  illuLiinate  the  pathway  which  leads  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  correct  and  liberal  principles  throughout 
all  lands ;  where  the  example  of  our  own  immortal 
WASHINGTON,  and  of  the  patriot  sages  of  the  Re- 
public, has  not  yet  produced  its  vivifying  effects. 

In  the  desperate  conflict  which  marked  the  revolt  of 
the  United  Provinces,  Holland  achieved  her  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  This  taught  her  English  neighbors 
a  lesson,  which  iUl£03i3l  of  Orange  enabled  them 
to  improve  with  similar  success. 

When  England,  forgetful  of  the  past,  would  trample 
on  the  rights  of  her  American  Colonies,  these  followed 
the  same  example,  adopted,  like  the  Dutch,  a  Federal 
Union,  and  making  themselves  independent,  built  up 
the  glorious  fabric  of  the  American  Republic. 

Like  another  Pharos,  may  the  light  which  beams 
from  this  lofty  pinnacle,  reflecting  its  rays  upon  the 
declared  principles  of  that  independence,  irradiate 
every  dark  spot  on  the  earth's  surface ;  and  may  po- 
litical aspirants,  both  here  and  every  where,  learn  that 
Ais  light  is  the  safest  guide,  under  Providence,  to  the 
oijly  secure  anchorage  of  virtuous  success ! 


W 


ISJ^OTES. 


■  •\^ 


[No.  1.— Lines  7,-*8, page 8] 

The  Dutch  (Hollanders)  discovered  the  region  now  known  as  the  State 
of  New  York  in  1309;  erected  a  fort  in  1612''8;  and  established  a  pernia> 
nent  settlement  in  1614.  They  settled  in  New  Jersey  shortly  after  their 
arrival  in  New  York,  particularly  at  Bergen,  between  1614  and  1624. 
They  erected  a  trading  hoase  at  Hartford  on  the  Oonnecticut  in  1681 ;  and 
snbjogated  Delaware  in  1655. 

TNo.  2. — Line  4,  page  15.]  ,U'1  iiq 

Pabbt,  on  the  22d  [?]  Jnly,  1827,  had  certainly  reached  82  degrees  40 
minntes,  and  on  the  28d  probably  had  gained  6  minntes — i.  e.  82  degree 
45  minutes.  As  the  author  furnished  Babektz's  certainty,  he  likewise 
stated  Parry's  farthest  attainment  by  observation. 

[No.  3.— Lines  13  to  26,  page  24.] 

If  any  of  onr  readers  admire  the  Dutch  (Hollanders),  let  them  exi^ne 
Topographical  Descriptions,  with  Historioo-Political  and  Medico-Pbysioal 
Observations,  made  in  Two  Several  Voyages,  through  most  parts  of 
Europe,  by  John  Northi.kigh,  LL.,  M.  D.,  London  1702  ;  and  he  will 
And  14  pages  (108-122)  almost  entirely  devoted  to  praises  of  the 
Dutch  nation,  which,  considering  that  tlieir  author  is  an  Englishman,  and 
their  date  a  century  and  a  halt  since,  is  pretty  conclusive  evidence  of  their 
truth.    The  whole  book  is  qnaint,  but  well  worthy  perusal. 


[No.  4. — Line  5,  page  29.] 

In  the  Oiide  Kerk,  (Old  Church)  of  Amsterdam,  lies  Interred  3^^9ii 
bau  3Q3SC^|VI.S1&IS11Q:1EI,  who  commanded  one  vessel  of  the  Squadron 
of  which  Havtnt}  was  the  Cliief-Pilot,  Ice-Master  and  actual  Conductor. 
He  afterwards  rose  to  the  rank  of  Admiral,  and  distinguished  himself  by 
his  bravery  and  enterprize.  His  monument  bears  "this  old  inscription 
and  historical  account  of  his  life  and  actions,"  for  he  lived  to  wear  the 


70 

palm  and  the  laurel  wbioh  belonged  to  that  daring  navigator  who  sleep* 
hU  jlast  tombless  sleep  in  the  far  North,  which  he  was  the  first  to  explore : 

o:-.  Honori  »t  Aetemitati 

lacobo  ab  jQectnskerck, 

Amatel-SedamMsiy 
Viro  fyrti  et  optime  de  patria  merito. 
Qui 
ij  ;  tasque  orat  naeigationes,   in  Novum  Zemhlam 
i,.  Indiam  Orientalem  tenut  Antareticum  totidem ; 


Pott  variaa  in  nota», 
nib  Polo  Aretieo  du*. 


Jndsqtts  opimis  Spoltis.    An.  OIO^OCIV.,  reeeraua  tietor. 

TANDEM 
JS^tpeditioniit  maritima  adversm  Hiapan.  Pra/eetus,   eorundetn  validav} 
Clauem  Hereuleo   aum  aggreatw  in  Freto  HermUci*  sub   ipm  aroe  et 
urbe  Qihraltar  VII.  Kal.Maii,An.  ClO£)CVII.  fudit  et    profiigant, 

IPSE  IBIDEM 
Pro.  patria  utretiue   ditnicans,   glorune   oeeubuit,   Aninm  Coilo  guadet^ 
Corpus  hoc  loeo  Jacet.    Ave  Lector,  fa/tnamque  viri  mna  et  virtuteim 

Cujus  EROO 
Jlluatridt.  et  Potentisg.    Fcederat.    Provin.    lielgioe  ORDINIBUS,  P.P. 

H.  M.  P. 

Vizit  Aimoa  XL.  Memem  7,  Diea  XII. 


y  [No.  6. — Line  12,  page  31.] 

Haoeltttt's  Hbadland,  takes  its  name  from  a  distinguished  naval  his- 
torian of  England,  who  was  born  about  the  year  1558,  and  died  on  tlie  23d 
September,  1616,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  London.  It  is 
the  most  northern  and  western  point  of  Amsterdam  Island,  once  the  head 
(jnarters  of  the  Dutch  Avhale  fishery,  and  likewise  tiie  most  northwestern 
of  the  Spitzbergen  Archipelago,  in  Latitude  79  deg.  47  min.  north  and 
Longitude  C  deg.  5  min.  east.  Its  "eminent" and  rocl<y,snuw-crowned  front 
defies  the  unbroken  violence  of  every  gale  which  sweeps  across  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  while  against  its  rook-strewn  base,  and  jutting  reefs,  the  ice-fields, 
urged  across  the  open  sea  from  Greenland,  are  crushed  into  n  yeasty 
"RfflwA,"  or,  in  severer  seasons,  grind  and  groan  and  pile  themselves,  until 
they  emulate  the  lofty  point  "perpetually  covered  with  a  mourning  veil 
of  black"  rock  moss  or  "lichens." 


^*Yid.  This  History  and  Heemskbrok's  character.  £rat  oranino  non 
tarn  pecnniifi  qnam  glorisa  avidus,  hoc  quoque  Studium  nulla  sui  jaotantia 
prodens,  quippe  civilem  invultum  habitumque  compositus  alte  absoonderat 
animnm  militarum.    lino.  Qbot.  Hi«tor.,  Liber.  16. 


mnus,  p.T. 


fi 

Thii  HAOR:LTTTT,wUii  hii  Hollaudish  aame,aD(l  doubtless  Hollandrsh  ort^^ 
gin,  bnt  English  parentage,  gained  the  highest  esteem  and  honor,  froiri 
mariners  of  all  ranks,  in  the  most  distant  nations,  no  less  than  his  own. 
Dbatton,  a  contemporaneous  English  poet,  apostrophizes  the  naval  histo- 
rian,  whose  spirit  animated  his  countrymen  to  maritime  adventure,  thus : 

"  Thy  voyages  attend 

Industrious  Haoklvyt  ; 
Whose  reading  shall  inflame  :  /\ 

Men  to  seek  fame,  \    .;-. 

And  much  to  commend  -,v;i-\ 

To  after-times  thy  wit." 

When  Hendsiok  Hudson,  in  1607,  in  a  voyage  towards  the  North  Pole) 
re-discoveredSpitzbergen-T/Zrtt  discovered  in  1696,by38artift? — he  distiti- 
gnished  its  north-western  "eminent  promontory"  by  the  name  of  Haok- 
luyt's  Headland,  by  which  it  is  still  known ;  and,  seven  years  afterwards, 
an  English  crew,  sent  out  by  the  English  Russia  Company,  planted  thei^* 
upon  the  banner  and  erected  the  arms  of  England ;  thus  assuming  th4 
rights  of  possession  and  the  honor  of  discovery  which  belonged  to  3Sarenf|^, 
and  the  Dutch  nation.  ..    ^ 


[No.  6.— Lines  16  to  21,  page  40,] 

"The  survivors  appeared  before  the  people  of  Amsterdam  in  the  dress 
they  wore  at  Nova  Zembla.  Curiosity  was  awakened  everywhere  respect- 
ing them.  They  were  taken  to  the  Ministers  of  foreign  States,  at  (he 
Hague,  to  relate  their  perils  and  give  an  account  of  the  frigid  land,  wbioU 
none  of  the  southern  natives  had  visited  before.  Their  treatment  on  their 
arrival  home  must,  in  those  days,  have  been  an  ample  compensation  to 
the  survivors  tor  their  past  suflferings." — Arctic  Adventures^  by  Sea  and 
Land,  &c.  &c. ;  Edited  by  Epes  Saboent. 

[N8.7.-Line8  25to27,page40.J    ^'f^'Mr,rr^itl^5 

Nova-Zemhla  or  Ifovaia-ZemUa. — A  vast  insular  territory  of  the  Arctic 
or  Northern  Icy-Ocean — belongs  to  European  Russia,  constituting  a  de- 
pendency of  the  Government  of  Archangel,  district  of  Mezen,  and  lies 
between  Latitude  70  degrees  35  minutes  and  77  degrees  north,  and  Longi- 
tude 45  degrees  25  minutes  and  75  degrees  [77  dogrcea  I]  east.  This  ice- 
bound region  is  divided  into  two  islands  by  the  narrow  Strait  of  Matotsch- 
kin-Shar,  is  separated  by  the  Strait  of  Kara  from  the  island  of  Yaigatsoh, 
and  is  washed  on  the  south  by  the  Sea  of  Kara  and  on  the  west  and 
north  by  the  Northern  Icy  or  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  southwestern  and  western  coasts  are  tolerably  well  known;   the 


72 

northern,  even  yet,  imperfectly — but  little,  if  any,  better  than  when 
Hsrentf  first  examined  them ;  while  the  eastern,  defended  by  impassable 
barriers  of  eternal  ioe,  have  never  been  explored.  On  the  western  shore, 
an  arm  of  the  sea,  In  Latitude  78  degrees  nurttt  appchr->  to  penetrate 
deeply  into  tlie  country. 

The  extreme  length  (^f  these  islands,  measuring  from  Ou^»  Zelania — 
Zhelania,  Jelanin,  Jolanii,  or  Desire — Latitude  TOdegrcotj  08  irJcutes  [77 
degrees?]  north.  Longitude 74 degr(>ns  20  minutes  east  [7t>  degibos  10  min- 
utes]— the  moat  northern  point  of  Eurcjpe— to  CapeTcher^yi,  their  south- 
western extremity,  is  a  little  over  two  Iiimdred  longnes,  say  six  hundred 
miles.  Their  mean  breadtlt  from  the  northwest  to  the  southeast  maybe 
oalonlatacli  at  about  seventy  leagues,  say  two  hundred  and  ten  miles. 

Between  Capes  Zalania  and  Severo  Vostotchnoi,  the  most  ntirtlnrn  ex- 
tremity of  Asiatic  Russia — and  consequently  of  Asiii— in  tb?  Govci'i.aent 
of  Jc.'iiseisi:,  Latitude  78  degrees  25  minutes  north,  Longitudo  102  degrees 
[98  degr<^es]  ef;>t,  extends  an  open  sea,  almost  invariably,  however,  en- 
(^umhered  wit?)  icebergs  and  ice-fields,  but  said  to  huve  been  sailed  over, 
in  1811  or  li  il-,  by  an  adventurous  Dutch  Captain  [See  Scobesby'b  Afetie 
Reghm,  Vol.  /.,  Apjtmdix  III.^  'page  60]  to  the  eastward  of  Nova  Zem- 
blo,  for  the  space  of  one  hundred  and  forty  leagues. 

The  coasts  as  yet  explored  are  extremely  broken  aud  precipitous ; 
the  southern  low  and  flat ;  the  western  bristling  with  gray  sandstone 
clifs,  which,  although  not  very  high,  are  almost  perpendicular.  No  an- 
chorage may  be  said  to  exist. 

.  Even  in  the  southern  districts  the  country  is  hardly  known  beyond  a 
distance  of  five  leagues  from  the  western  shore.  This  part  is  watered  by 
fifteen  small  rivers,  which  empty  into  the  sea  between  the  Straits  of 
Yaigatsch  and  Matotshkin-Shar ;  besides  these,  it  possesses  numerous  lakes. 

The  fl'-'oect  of  this  jountry  is  perfectly  horrible.  Nothing  but  the 
gloomiest  vegetation  meets  the  eye,  and  the  mountains  present  no  other 
apparel  except  an  eternal  robe  of  snow  and  mail  of  ice.  Excessive  cold 
reigns  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The  interior  abounds 
with  reindeer,  blue  and  arctic  foxes,  ermine  and  white  bears,  while  the 
coasts  swarm  with  various  species  of  fish  of  the  largest  size,  (whales, 
dolphins,  porpoises,  sharks,  &o.,)  seals,  sea-cows,  and  "vast  fiights"  of 
marine-birds.  *. 

This  desolate  country  is  without  fixed  inhabitants,  and  only  frequent- 
ed by  Russian  hunters  and  fishermen. 


v-diuiiM  Itertni   J;>.;,ioVi  <4  ii*i£b.iaii-i,  f?  ,^>iT!v.:>»»;;»inorf>'^"- u  ua 


'Vf 

1  * 


d  only  frequent- 


t3 

[No.  8. — Line  21,  page  46.]  r\Twi!)io<< 

APPOINTMENT  OF  THE  INSTALLATION  OF 

Qle  (S^ooernor  of  HHom  Scotia  anb  ^cabU. 

The  DirecUyn  of  the  Privileged  General  Weat  India  Company  of  the 

United  Netherlandt. 


All  those  vrho  shall  see  or  hear  tbo^«9  presents,  Grsbtino  : 
Know,  that  we,  being  convinced  that  the  wealth  of  this  Oompaivy  would 
be  greatly  increased  by  the  cultivation  of  those  lands  and  places  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  our  aforesaid  grantees,  and  that  it  will  be  useful  that  these 
aforesaid  lands  and  places  should  not  remain  uninhabited,  but  that  some- 
body be'duly  settled  there,  and  populate  the  country ;  and  afterwards 
thinking  on  expedients  by  which  the  navigation,  commerce,  and  traffic  of 
the  aforesaid  Oompany,  and  of  all  others  who  belong  to  it,  may  after  some 
time  be  increased  and  augmented ;  so  is  it  that  we,  wishing  to  put  our  use- 
ftil  intention  in  execution,  for  the  aforesaid  and  other  reasons,  by  which  we 
are  persuaded ;  following  the  second  article  of  our  aforesaid  grant,  and  by 
the  authority  of  the  high  and  mighty  States-General  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands, and  upon  mature  deliberation  of  the  Oouncil,  have  committed  and 
authorized,  and  we  do  commit  and  authorize,  Comelto  Strenlosdt,  in 
the  name  of,  and  for,  the  High  and  Mighty  and  the  Privileged  General 
West  India  Oompany,  to  take  possession  of  the  coastsand  countries  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  Acadie,  including  the  subordinate  countries  and  islands,  so  far 
as  their  limits  are  extended,  to  the  east  and  north  from  the  River  Pounte- 
gouycet ;  and  that  he,  dteenbifiClt,  may  establish  himself  there,  and  select 
such  places  for  himself,  in  order  to  cultivate,  to  sow,  or  to  plant,  as  he  shall 
wish. 

Moreover,  to  trade  with  the  natives  of  the  country,  and  all  others  with 
whom  the  Republic  of  these  United  Netherlands  and  the  atbresaid  Oom- 
pany are  in  peace  and  alliance,  to  negotiate  and  to  traffic  in  the  goods  and 
merchandizes  belonging  to  them,  send  them  hither  and  thither,  and  tit  out 
ships  and  vessels  for  the  large  and  small  fisheries,  to  set  the  cargo  rshore, 
to  dry  and  afterwards  to  sell  them,  so  as  he  shall  think  it  best ;  and,  gen- 
erally, to  sustain  and  to  maintain  himself  and  his  family,  by  no  other  than 
honest  means. 

MoBBovEK,  that  he,  Steeniustlt,  in  the  na^e  of  the  High  and  Mighty, 
and  of  the  General  West  India  Oompany,  will  be  admitted  to  make  con- 
tracts find  alliances  and  engagements  with  the  natives  of  that  country ;  also 
to  build  some  forts  and  castles,  to  defend  and  to  protect  himself  against 

10 


74 

every  foreiga  and  doinestio  force  of  enemies  or  pirates ;  and  also  to  ad- 
rait  and  to  protect  all  etitor  persons  and  families  wtio  wisji  to  come  under 
obedience  to  tlie  Company,  if  tiiey  sweur  due  faitbl'ulness  to  the  much  es- 
teemed High  and  Mighty,  as  their  highest  Sovereign  H  igistrate,  to  his 
Highness,  My  Lord  tlie  Prince  of  Orange,  as  the  Governor-Captain  and 
Admiral-General,  and  to  the  Directors  of  the  Privileged  WeKt  India  Com- 
pany. 

That  mokkovkr,  the  aforesaid  JbteeniDSCk,  with  the  title  and  power  of 
Manager  and  Captain,  will  provide,  deliver  and  execute  every  thing  that 
belongs  to  the  conservation  of  these  countries,  namely : — 

The  maintenance  of  good  order,  police,  and  jubtice,  as  would  be  required 
according  to  the  laws  and  manners  of  tLote  countriets ;  and,  principally, 
that  the  true  Christian  reformed  religion  is  practised  within  the  limits  of 
his  district,  after  the  ui»ual  manner,  that  JbtCditBStfc,  according  to  this, 
may  place  some  one — if  he  is  a  free-born  subject  of  our  union— in  his  of- 
fice ;  who,  in  name  and  authority,  moreover,  with  the  title  and  a  power 
as  aforesaid,  may  take  possession  of  the  aforesaid  countries  to  establish 
himself  there;  and  further,  to  do  and  execute  all  those  things  whereto 
Stecnfnsclt,  liimself,  in  oforesaid  manner,  is  uulliorized ;  all  those  things, 
nevertheless,  without  expenses,  charges,  or  any  kind  of  bnrdens  to  the 
Company  ;  and  with  the  invariable  condition  that  the  aforesaid  dtetn» 
IttSCit,  or  the  person  whom  he  might  place  in  his  office,  will  bi  obliged  to 
execute  the  present  Commission  and  authorization  withii:  the  next  eigh- 
teen months,  or  that  by  negligence  or  failure  thereof  it  will  be  in  our  fac- 
ulty and  power  to  give  such  a  Commission  and  authorization  to  other  per- 
sons than  J&teenlnsdt,  or  his  Lieutenant,  without  any  reference  to  this 
present  one. 

MoKKOTSR,  we  have  the  aforesaid  SbtrentDSeft,  or  his  Lieutenant,  so 
soon  as  they  establish  themselves  within  the  limits  of  that  particular, 
privileged  and  conceded  district ;  and  we  do  privilege  and  concede  free- 
dom and  immunity  of  all  rights  and  recognizances  for  the  time  of  six 
years  successively. 

At  last,  and  to  conclude,  that  the  aforesaid  Stetntvsctt,  or  his  Lieuten- 
ant, within  the  limits  of  the  aforesaid  district,  will  have  the  right  to  dis- 
tribute to  others  such  countries  and  places  for  Colonies  and  farms  as  he 
shall  think  best;  and  that  the  managers  and  principals  of  those  Colonies 
and  farms,  for  the  time  of  six  years,  shall  bo  entirely  possessed  of  the 
aforesaid  rights  and  recognizances. 

We  command  and  charge  also  our  Directors,  Managers,  Captains,  Mas- 
ters of  ships,  and  all  our  other  officers  who  may  belong  to  them,  that  they 
will  have  to  acknowledge,  to  respect,  and  to  obey,  the  aforesaid  fltornelis 
&teenb)fck,or  his  Lieutenant,  as  Manager  and  Captain,  within  the  limits 
of  the  aforesaid  district;  and,  to  procure,  to  give,  and  to  afford  him  every 


75 

help,  aid,  and  nssiatance  in  the  execation  thereof,— seeing  that  we  And  it 
nsefal  for  the  service  of  the  Oompany. 
Given  in  Amsterdam,  October  27, 1676. 

(Signed)  (2$aepar|)eUiconu.  , 

For  Ordinance  of  the  aforesaid  Directors. 

(Signed)  (f .  ($auine. 

Mott  Jlonourahle,    Valiant,  and  ffoneat  Beloved,  Faitl^ful : 

In  answer  to  tlie  remonstrnnoes  of  yoar  brother-in-law,  NCcolaai,  the 
Governor,  we  linve  thought  convenient  to  send  your  Honor,  the  enclosed 
Commission  and  authorization,  being  the  permission  to  take  possession  of 
tlie  cua'<t8  and  countries  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  Acadie,  so  far  as  its  limits 
are  extended  from  the  river  Pountegonet,  to  the  east  and  north,  in  the 
name  and  upon  the  authority  of  the  High  and  Mighty  States-General  of 
the  United  Netherlands,  and  tlie  Privileged  General  West  India  Company, 
confirming  all  such  conditions  as  your  Honor  will  see  himself,  by  reading 
the  aforesaid  Commission. 

But,  our  intention  is  not  to  prtyudice  a  Commission  of  the  lllh  Sept*r 
last,  given  to  John  Bhoade,  a  native  of  England,  who  was  helping  to 
conquer  and  subdue  the  aforesaid  coasts  and  oonntries  in  the  year  1674, 
under  the  direction  of  Capt.  Suttfaen  Slernouts.  .  ^  copy  of  that  aforf- 
said  Commission  is  herewith,  as  witness  for  you :.  -v  , 

We  have  conimended  the  aforesaid  Bhoadk  to  give  your  Honor,  from 
time  to  time  his  advice  in  regard  to  the  state  of  affairs,  and  as  to  what 
could  be  done  for  them  by  virtue  of  our  aforesaid  Commission,  and  ytp 
hope  that  it  will  be  observed  by  him. 

Moreover,  we  ask  and  desire  eagerly,  that  as  soon  as  your  Honor 
shall  have  taken  possession  of  the  aforesaid  landf*,  or  may  have  sent  some- 
body there  in  his  name,  you  will  tell  us  the  state  of  affairs  there,  and  also 
what  kind  of  business  could  there  be  practiced  with  gain  and  advantage ; 
also,  to  let  us  know  all  those  things  which  you  may  think  advantageous 
for  us  to  know. 

If,  afterwards,  there  should  be  foimd  any  minerals  on  any  place  there, 
we  wish  that  your  Honor  would  send  us  some  samples,  with,  and  besides, 
your  opinion  and  advice,  in  order  to  decide  upon  it.  Finally,  we  com- 
mand your  Honor  to  do  all  that  whioh  may  increase  the  wealth  of  our 
Oompany.  .<«i.>,uif. 

Wherewith  finishing,  we  commend  you  to  the  protection  of  God. 
Amsterdam,  Qotober  27, 1676. 

(Signed)  ®ar^\iT  ^^tiixtotue. 

For  Ordinance  of  the  aforesaid  Directors.  ■  *^'"  "^*'' 

(Signed)  €.  Ratline.  au;  .iia,jyiula  «iij  i<> 


76 

The  Directors  of  th«  Privileged  General  West  India  Company  of  the 
United  Netberlandn. 

To  ALL  Tuoei  who  shall  ace  or  hear  these  presentu — Gusbting  : 

Enow,  THAT  whkrbab,  in  the  year  1674,  Captain  JuvvUen  iilrrnoutf, 
Mflater  of  the  frigate  '^Tbe  Flying  Horse,"  from  Curasao,  and  charged  with 
a  Oommission  of  his  Highness  the  Prince  of  Orange,  has  conquered  and 
sabdned  the  coasts  and  conntries  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Acadie,  in  wliich  ex- 
pedition "'«s  also  preeent  and  ns8iste(l,with  advice  and  force,  John  Khoauk  : 

Thbrbfoba,  wk,  after  consulting  the  demand  of  aforesaid  Rboadk,  to 
establish  himself  m  the  aforesaid  conntries,  and  to  remain  there,  and  to 
maintain  himself,  have  consented  and  permitted,  and  do  consent  and  per- 
mit hereby,  that  the  aforesaid  Rhoadb,  in  the  name  and  by  the  consent 
of  the  General  West  India  Company,  shall  take  possession  of  the  aforesaid 
coasts  and  countries  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Acadie,  in  whatever  place  of  that 
district  it  may  please  him,  to  bnild  honses  and  to  establish,  to  cultivate, 
and  to  keep  in  repair,  plantations ;  that  he  may  trade  and  negotiate  with 
the  natives,  nnd  all  others  with  whom  the  State  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands and  the  aforesaid  Company  is  in  peace  and  alliance ;  in  the  firbt 
place,  to  send  hither  and  thither  his  own  goods  and  merchandize,  after 
paying  the  duties  to  our  Company;  in  the  second  place,  to  defend  and 
maintain  himself  against  every  foreign  and  domestic  power  of  enemies. 
Also,  we  charge  and  command  our  Managers,  Captains,  Ship-Masters,  and 
all  other  officers  in  the  service  of  onr  Company,  and  we  request  all  persons 
who  do  not  belong  to  our  Company,  not  to  trouble,  or  to  disturb  the  afore- 
said Rhoadk;  but,  after  shewing  this  Commission,  to  assist  him  in  the 
execution  thereof,  and  to  give  him  all  help,  aid  and  assistance. 

Given  at  Amsterdam,  Sent'r  11,  1676. 

(Signed)  (&aipat  |)ellicorne, 


For  ordinance  of  the  aforesaid  Directors. 


(Signed) 


(t.  (S^anxnt. 


The  foregoing,  furnished  through  the  politeness  of  George  H. 
MooBB,  Esq.  Librarifin  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  are  copies  of 
the  translations  accompanying  the  original  documents,  presented,  with  a 
portrait  of  Cocnelfs  SteeniDScIt,  to  the  Ncta)=<¥odt  ^istoclcal  Jbocietv,  at 
the  stated  meeting  in  November,  1866,  by  Mrs.  Eliza  M* Clark,  of  the 
Lopu$t$,  near  Shreuuiburp,  If.  J.,  through  George  Db  Haert  GiLLBsriE, 
Esq.  and  John  McMiTLLBN,Esq.,  Librorian  of  the  New  York  Society  Lii>rary. 
March,  1857.  ,«i^^^it*.jJii;^.  ::;>-. 


T7 

Th«  OOKNELIS  8T££NWY0K,  invested  with  more  than  Gubernato- 
rial authority  over  this  oonqueat,  wan  a  rich  and  promimoi  tnarohant  of 
New  Anosterdam,  its  third  Mayor,  and  a  long  time  auooiated  with  the 
anceetor  of  the  writer,  in  the  city  administration,  particularly  at  one  of 
those  crises  which  liave  never  occurred  without  aifording  additional  proof 
of  the  fearless  and  unselfish  patriotism  of  the  Dutoh.  They  belonged  to 
that  Oommission  who  rivalled  the  resolution  of  the  Muscovite  in  the  con- 
flagration of  Moscow — so  often  cited  as  an  illustrious  example  of  patriotic 
Hacrifice — without  evincing  any  of  the  ferocity  which  characterized  the 
act  of  Rotopschin.  To  malce  good  New  Amsterdam  against  a  threatened 
attack  from  the  English,  in  1078,  by  the  orders  of  that  determined  Oom- 
raisBion  the  suburbs,  villas,  smiling  boweries  and  gardenn,  were  all  laid 
waste  in  ashes,  so  that  they  could  neither  impede  the  fire  of  the  Artillery 
of  tlie  Fort  and  Bastions  of  the  place,  nor  alford  cover  and  lodgment  to 
the  enemy.  But  in  one  respect  their  example  has  scarcely  ever  been  im- 
itated :  they  not  only  destroyed  for  the  good  of  the  public,  but  they  also 
paid  for  what  the  public  good  required  to  be  laid  woKte. 

The  grandest  passages  of  the  history  of  the  Hollanders  upon  this  continent 
remain  to  be  brought  before  the  public  eye--a  grandeur  unsurpassed  by 
the  records  of  any  other  Colony  which  has  ever  been  established  since 
the  beginning  of  the  world. 


[No.  9. — Lines  6  to  8,  page  63.] 

Examine  account  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Missions  in  Maine,  in  the 
Collection*  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  pages  828  to  840. — "Biajit,'' 
"Masbb,"  "Dkkuillettkh,"   "Rallk." 

[No.  10.— Lines  20  a22,  page67.J 

The  monster  carbuncles,  alluded  to  in  the  preceding  pages,  are  said 
to  have  been  displayed  in  the  upper  part  of  the  front  of  the  Church  of 
St.  IfichokUf  at  WiSBT,*  where  tlie  ornamental  roseworks  or  circles  in 
which  they  were  set  still  remain. 

So  lustrous  were  these  gems,  it  was  averred,  that  their  resplendency 
could  be  discerned  at  such  a  distance  to  seaward,  as  to  serve  !n  guiding 
mariners  in  the  Baltic.  "It  is  possible,"  says  Laing,  "that  some  glitter- 
ing »par  may  have  been  inserted  in  these  circles,  which  are  constructed 


*See  Laino's  Tour  in  Sweden;  Mukbay's  Hand- Booh  for  Northern 
Europe,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway;  Mubbay's  Hand-Booh  for 
Northern  Germany ;  the  Sotlbcrsntfons  Hericoil ;  &o.  &c.  ■  i 


78 

of  briok  npoo  the  stone  front,  aa  if  intended  m  a  frame  to  aome  relin  or 
ornament."  When  Waldimar,  King  of  Denmark,  made  anonalaiight  upon 
Tfif^,  in  Jaly,  1861,  slew  1800  hundred  of  ita  inhabitantH,and  plundered 
its  shrines  and  treaonrles,  he  loaded  two  ships  with  the  booty  and  valuables 
delivered  over  as  the  ransom  of  the  spoliated  city.  The  vessel,  however, 
freighted  with  these  treasures,  was  not  allowed  to  roauli  its  destination 
and  graoe  the  triumph  of  the  pirate-roonaroh  of  Denmarl<,  liut  was  wreck- 
ed on  the  Oarl  Isles,  lying  oil'  the  S.  W.  point  of  Gothland. 

The  St.  Nioiiolas  Oiidroh,  Iruin  which  they  were  torn,  is  a  large  edi- 
fice, built  in  1007,  altogether  in  tlie  Norman  style,  with  long  windows, 
and  all  the  arches,  which  are  very  beaatifnl,  painted.  Witby  was  the 
mother  of  the  ffaiueatic  citUs — tlie  most  extraordinary  place  in  the  north 
of  Europe.  A  seaport  of  the  middle  agos,  it  exists  unbroken  and  unchanged  ' 
in  a  measure  to  the  present  day — having  undergone  iw»  alteration  fn)m 
time,  devastation,  or  improvement,  than  any  place  of  the  same  antiquity. 
Once  the  depot  of  all  the  merchandize  of  the  Baltic,  the  period  of  its  foun- 
dation is  unknown,  but  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  two  hundred 
years  before  the  establishment  of  the  Hanseatio  league  in  1241,  it  was  one 
of  the  most  important  commercial  cities  of  Europe.  During  the  fonrteetith 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  it  was  a  principal  factory  of  the  Hanseatio  league, 
and  it  is  moreover  famous  for  tlie  Code  of  Marine  laws  transferred  to 
France  by  St.  Louis  in  the  eleventh  century.  The  foreigners  were  so  nu- 
merous in  this  emporium,  that  each  nation  had  its  own  ciiurch  and  house 
of  assembly,  which  is  very  eyident  from  the  remains  of  so  many  places  of 
worship  within  a  few  yards  of  each  other.  There  are  no  less  than  eigh- 
teen rains  of  ohurohes  within  its  walls,  among  which  that  of  St.  Mcholai 
dates  from  the  eleventh  oentnry.  According  to  some  liistorians,  the  Han- 
seatic  league  embraced  upwards  of  eighty  cities  or  towns,  (while  others 
fix  the  number  at  60,  and  others  again  at  85,).  Depnties,  however,  from 
85  towns  assembled  in  their  Representative  Hall  in  Lubeok  ;  and  there 
wai  scarcely  Any  commercial  city  in  Northern  Europe  but  was  admitted 
into  tliis  Oonfederatiun.  From  this  fact  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  as 
many  of  the  Dutch  porta^Boldward  in  Friesland,  Elsburg,  Groeniogin, 
Handerwyck,  Nimwegen,  Rnremonde,Staboren,  Venlo,  Zutphen,  Zwoll) — 
belonged  to  it,  it  is  more  than  likely  that  merchants  of  Holland  contributed 
to  the  c«mstruction  of,  and  worshiped  within  the  walls  of,  this  very  St. 
Nicholas  Ohuroh.  What  "PortD  Venere"  is  to  the  Western  Mediterranean, 
Wisby  is  to  the  Paltic,  both  mediasval  gems,  perfectly  preserved  in  their 
original  strange  but  artistic  settings;  links,  which,  with  Pompeii,  nearly  a 
thousand  years  apart,  connect  the  present  with  the  anti  Ohristian  eras. 

In  conclusion :  Witli  regard  to  the  fabled  light-evolving  properties  of 
the  Oarbnncle,  Charles  Edwards  discnsseth  thus  agreeably  and  learnedly 
in  his  ^'Hiatory  and  Poetry  of  Finger  Rings.''^ 


79 

"Tliere  was  Buppoted  to  be  a  gem,  o«I]e<I  a  Oarbnnole,  whtoh  emitted, 
not  reflected,  but  native  light.  Our  old  literature  abounds  with  alloslona 
to  tbe  ralraouIouH  gem.  SnAxaPKARi  baa  made  use  of  it  ia  Titvb  Andbo- 
1II0D8,  where  MAurins  goes  down  into  a  pit,  and  by  it  dinoovers  tbe  body 
uf  Lord  BAS8IAND8,  and  calls  up  to  Quintus  thus : 


'  Lord  UAseiANUs  lies  embrewed  here, 
All  on  a  heap,  liice  to  a  slaughtered  lamb. 
In  this  detested,  dark,  blood-drinking  pit.' 

QuiNTUs: 

*  If  it  be  dark,  bow  dost  thou  know  *tis  he?' 

Mabtius:  , 

*  Upon  his  bloody  finger  he  doth  wear 

A  precious  ring,  that  lightens  all  the  hole, 

Which,  like  a  taper  in  some  monument,  > 

Doth  shine  upon  the  dead  man's  earthy  cheek,  '  ! 

And  show  the  ragged  entrails  of  tliis  pit :      .           m  awfi^  «^titv> 
So  pale  did  shine  the  moon  on  Pyramos               -  <<>iinii  if.vcv 
When  he  by  night  lay  bathed  in  maiden's  blood.' 

LnooTiocs  Vabi'omaknttb,  a  Roman,  reporteth  that  the  king  of  Pege 
(or  Pegu),  a  city  in  India,  had  a  carbuncle  (ruby)  of  so  great  a  magnitude 
and  splendor,  that  by  the  clear  light  of  it  he  might,  in  a  dark  phuse,  be 
seen,  even  as  if  the  room  or  place  had  been  illustrated  by  the  sunbeatna. 
St.  or  Bishop  EpiPHANica  saith  of  this  gem,  that  if  it  be  worn,  whatever 
garments  it  be  covered  withal,  it  cannot  be  hid. 

It  was  from  a  property  of  resembling  a  burning  coal  when  held  against 
the  sun,  that  this  stone  obtained  tbe  name  earhineului ;  which,  being 
afterwards  misunderstood,  there  grew  up  an  opinion  of  its  having  the 
qualities  of  a  burning  coal  and  shining  is  tbe  dark.  And  as  no  gem  ever 
was  or  ever  will  be  found  endued  with  that  quality,  it  was  supposed  that 
the  true  carbuncle  of  the  ancients  was  lost ;  but  it  was  long  generally 
believed  that  there  had  been  such  a  stone.  The  species  of  carbuncle  of 
the  ancients,  which  possessed  this  quality  in  the  greatest  degree,  was  the 
Oaramantine  or  Oarthagenian ;  and  this  is  the  true  garnet  of  tbe  mod- 


erns.' 


J.  W.  DB  P. 


u>''i)<>ffl 


<M*ti^4^^^***^ 


v^ 


AUTHORITIES. 

Bbodhbad^s  History  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

O'Oi.llahan'8  History  of  the  New  Netherlands. 

New  York  Histoi;ioal  Oollkotioks,  New  Series. 

North  American  Review,  No.  OLXVH.,  April,  1856. 

Kane^s  Arctic  Explorations  in  the  Years  1863,- 54-'56. 

Polar  Seas  and  Regions — Harpers*  Family  Library,  No.  XIV. 

LippiNcoTT^B  Pronouncing  Gazettet-r  of  the  World — and  older  native 
and  foreign  publications  of  a  similar  nature. 

Encyclopedia  Americana. 

loonographio  Encyolopcedia,  Vol.  III.,  History  and  Ethnology. 
Ethnology  of  the  Present  Day. 

Da  vies'  History  of  Holland  and  the  Dutch  Nation. 

W.  ScoKESBT,  Jr.'s,  Account  of  the  Arctic  Regions,  with  a  History 
and  Description  of  the  Northern  Whale  Fishery. 

Hutohinson'b  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

HAOKttrrT's  Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels. 

James  Suuivan's  History  of  the  District  of  Maine. 

WiLixiAM  D.  Williamson's  History  of  the  State  of  Maine. 

&c.  &o.  &c. 


ERRATA 

REQUIBINO    notice. 


Pkge  18,  Line  29.--After  "iSinewanZ'^jr,"  insert  "or  rathsr  SmeerenhurffJ'^ 
"    84,    "      6.— Between  "&y"  and  'yaw»»»»»v,"  insert  "tAe." 
"    84,    "      5  to  Line  28. — The  sentences  need  remodeling ;  the  ori- 
ginal manuscript  having  been  improperly  copied,  and  the 
punctuation,  Ac.,  altered. 


ith  a  History 


(K  V  r  tt  t  tt  m . 

PiiRo  3-i,  Line  13  to  Lino  28. — Instead  of  the  present  sentence,  begin- 
ning: "Wliile,  tlms,"  &c.  read :— 'While  thus  the  minds  of  the  crew  were 
agitated  by  the  ever  present  dread  of  tlie  instant  and  complete  destruc- 
tion of  their  "frail  bark,"  they  were  stunned  and  denfened  by  tlje  noises 
made  by  the  ice  without,  around  them,  throughout  the  harbor,  and  upon 
the  adjacent  shores.  The  tliunder  of  the  icebergs,  hurled  against  each  • 
other  by  wind  and  tide,  mutually  crushing  their  mighty  masses  together, 
or  toppling  over  Avith  a  din  us  if  whole  mountains  of  marble  had  beoo 
blown  up  by  some  explosive  force — together  with  the  creaking,  cracking 
and  groaning  of  the  ship  itself,  arising  from  tlie  freezing  of  the  juices  of 
the  timber  and  liquids  in  the  hold — all  this  created  such  a  churmo  of  con- 
fusion tliat  the  crew  were  terrified,  lest  their  ship  should  foil  to  pieces  with 
evcrv  tiiroc,  which  seemed  to  rack  it  from  deck  to  kelson. 


